


Sigma Squad

by MrWartburg



Series: The Hawk-verse [4]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-11
Updated: 2013-01-12
Packaged: 2017-11-25 01:58:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 52,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/633898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrWartburg/pseuds/MrWartburg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Nightwing and the team assaulted the Reach base they thought they got everyone out. They were wrong. Several teens were left behind to fight for themselves a midst the chaos and maybe, just maybe, find a way out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out of the Frying Pan

**Author's Note:**

> A SYOC story, completed on FF.net. These are the characters that were used and their creators, whose profiles you can find on FF.net
> 
> Cameron Spear – Mr. Wartburg (me)  
> James Stevens – Lt. Col. John Sheppard  
> Avery Pierce – Jgirl53  
> Maya Ghale – Dino724  
> Samantha Curro – Ansa88  
> Chastity Alban – NekoRy  
> Colton Hale – brandogriffin  
> Penelope Hanway – XxxCloudyxxX  
> Thomas Anderson – Mr. Scary face
> 
> Hawkeye, an OC I created, will also crop up in this story towards the end.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A young man, along with eight other teens, wakes up in an alien research lab. They must band together to find a way out, before the aliens put them back in their pods!

**Reach research lab – Somewhere in the Pacific**  
March 30, 2016  


It was the blaring alarm that woke Cameron from his slumber. Well, that and the entire facility shaking. The flashing red light on the ceiling clued him into the fact that something was very amiss when he shook off the cobwebs of drug induced sleep. At first, he figured the scientists had just done something dumb and blown something up, but he didn't expect the facilities main power to down in his entire section. The 17-year old also didn't figure that his containment pod would open of its own volition, allowing him to walk freely into the cavernous laboratory. As he slowly stepped from the pod Cameron looked left, then right. He saw several others stepping from containment pods as well, each looking just as confused as the last. Looking at the open door to the rest of the ship Cameron could only think one thing;  _We have to get out of here._

To his right Cameron saw a young man with short brown hair staring around the room. What struck Cameron as odd was that the man didn't seem too awed by his surroundings. Rather, the man in question was staring around in an analytical fashion. To the man's right was a small, thickly thin girl that Cameron guessed couldn't be any older than 16. Continuing his assessment of the others Cameron's eyes settled on another girl, about the same height as the last. This one, however, looked far healthier and had black hair with several different streak of color running through it.

A voice belonging to the young man brought Cameron out of his observation, "So any idea how to get out of here?"

The room was silent after the man's question until Cameron spoke up, "No clue, but we won't be getting out of here without at least knowing each other's names."

The man nodded after sixing up Cameron, "Name's James, but call me Jim."

"Alright, Jim. I'm Cameron, Cam for short." Realizing that many would probably begin freaking out soon if someone didn't take charge Cameron looked to the thin girl to James's right, implying she too should introduce herself.

The thin girl spoke up next, "Chastity."

"Avery." The other girl Cameron had seen earlier was next.

"Tom." A young blonde teen Cameron hadn't seen before quietly said his name from behind another female.

The last male yet to speak appeared annoyed with the current introductions, "Could we get out of here? Names can wait."

"You're welcome to leave, who ever you are." When Colton didn't move Cameron continued, "I figure we're better off together and we can't really communicate without names now can we?" Cameron looked at the last three girls in the room. One was obviously of mixed Asian/American descent, the other a young blonde.

The blonde notice Cameron's stare and responded quickly, "Penelope, but call me Penny."

A young girl, around 14 years old, was next, "Sam."

The impatient boy from early and recovered from Cameron's rebuke, "My name is Colton, by the way."

Cameron nodded in acknowledgement, "Thanks, and that leaves just one." Everyone turned to stare at the only unnamed person in the room.

"Maya." The Asian girl stood to her full 5'9" frame with her arms crossed as though she felt the whole exercise was pointless.

Cameron looked around at those in the lab, "Alright now that that's out of the way have any of you been outside this lab since we got here?" His request was met with silence.

Wanting to keep moving, Maya moved toward the open door. Her actions drew the attention James, who was quick to call her out, "Where you off to? Happen to know the nearest exit out of wherever the hell we are?"

"I work better alone. No offense, but I doubt any of you could keep up with me anyway."

"Because you're clearly doing so well for yourself, what with getting captured just like the rest of us." James's brown eyes narrowed slightly as he sarcastically answered Maya's perceived insult.

What none of the teens noticed was that Avery had moved over to a monitor of some kind on the far wall. Picking up her pace she began working the screen like a seasoned pro, frantically moving her fingers over the monitor until what seemed to be a map appeared on the screen. Not feeling like being nice Avery was blunt about getting the group's attention, "Hey! If you guys feel like quitting the bitch-fest you might want to take a look at this." Everyone else in the room quickly huddled around the pale-skinned girl.

"So what are we looking at?" James was the quickest to ask what everyone else was thinking.

"A map, genius." James frowned at the last bit of that statement, though Avery didn't notice, "We're in an undersea research lab. I think they're called the Reach, judging from how many times the name is in the database. I've highlighted the best escape point here, what looks to be a launch bay for some kind of small craft."

Everyone was thrown by how much this girl could possible know about their captors. Trying to wrap his head around the new information Cameron was first to question Avery, "So how could you possible know all that?"

Avery's reply was quite deadpan, as though she had been asked the same question a million times in her short life, "I'm pretty good with computers, engines, and motors, pretty much anything mechanical."

Tom's eye's widened at Avery's explanation of her ability, "Are you like an X-Man or something? You're just like Forge!"

Avery, showing a rare emotion, smiled at the young boy, "I guess I am, kid."

Colton, growing impatient injected, "Hey, mind telling us where we're going?"

"Yeah, I've got the map memorized. Follow me."

Following Avery, the other 8 teens moved out of the lab and into the adjacent corridor. Taking several lefts followed by a right the group came upon a intersection of four hallways. Avery closed her eyes, as though she was concentrating on what the map showed. Unfortunately while she was figuring out which way to go the group was a bunch of sitting ducks. That came back to bite them as doors opened in each of the hallways with droves of Reach security forces streaming out to apprehend the escaped subjects. The team back into each other as their enemy quickly surrounded them; brandishing electric prods that promised to re-imprison them all.

* * *

 


	2. Into the Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teens attempt to escape, but first have to deal with their alien captors.

* * *

**Reach facility- Pacific Ocean  
March 30 – 10:45 p.m.**

The group of nine found themselves surrounded by Reach security agents, not unlike the operatives that had already captured each and every one of them as individuals. Their green skinned that showed under the body armor had the look of Martians, but these aliens were decidedly less friendly than the people of Earth's neighboring planet. Flashes of his capture sped through Cameron's mind as he remembered how the team of five agents had captured him on one of his first excursions into the hero world. They had easily captured him despite his ability and training. Now, in the belly of their own base, Cameron doubted whether the group would be able to escape unscathed from the 15 or so agents.

One of the Reach agents walked several steps towards on the group of huddled escapees, commanding their attention as he spoke firmly, "Stand down and you will not be harmed. Resist and we will not hesitate to use necessary force."

The group of humans looked at each other warily, each unsure of the other's intentions. When none offered surrender the Reach agents charged up their electric prods and step-by-step closed the gap between them and their targets. Reacting first out of instinct Maya, a trained assassin, rushed the nearest guard and neatly vaulted over him. As she flipped over his head she grabbed the staff, using her own momentum to toss the guard backward into the wall. Two guards, reacting to what they perceived as the greater threat, shifted over to restrain the olive-skinned teen.

They wouldn't be able to get the jump on Maya as the electricity was seemingly pulled from their weapons and flew across the room toward Samantha. Gathering the energy from their weapons between her hands she then deftly spun around delivering all of towards the three guards on her six. What ensued amounted to uncontrolled chaos.

Maya pounced on the guard nearest her while James took the other guard on Maya's left, using a properly placed kick to what he guessed was the alien's knee. Picking up one of the fallen guards prods Cameron, using his hyper-kinesis, threw it javelin style right over young Tom's head and just past Avery's neck to strike a guard strike square in the forehead, sending him crumpling to the ground. Tom, being the youngest of the group froze in the second of the skirmish, unsure of what to do amidst the chaos. Avery, despite not being a great fighter, rushed into the fray only to be quickly subdued by a villain. While the agents had so far been using non-lethal force that tactic for some reason changed with Avery on the ground, apparently the guards were done playing games and decided the humans were more hassle than they were worth alive. The guard pinning Avery raised a knife to strike, but in the blink of an eye found his arm frozen solid while Tom, only a few feet away shook his hands which were turning back to normal from their icy veneer.

On the other side of the room Colton was engaging two guards in hand-to-hand fighting. Colton was quickly turned to the defense before he pushed his left hand forward and as though by some kind of force field, both guards were sent flying into the wall where they remained pinned until they passed out. Penelope, using apparent magnetic control was wielding one of the guards' metallic staffs with great effect, cutting down two guards without taking a blow. Chastity, taking on a single combatant, became nearly transparent as a guard's swipe passed right through her. Becoming solid again Chastity breathed in deeply before sending a punch to the confused guard that sent him flying through the air.

With only three guards remaining Cameron, Maya, and James moved quickly to eliminate the threat. Maya deftly duck under a swipe from a guard and followed up with a vicious uppercut, putting the guard promptly on his rear. James used a more brute force attack, simply grabbing the prod from the guard who had jabbed and then smashed the guard in the face. Cameron allowed the final guard to make the first move, then stepped in to engage when the guard missed on a small jab with the electric staff. With his opponent off balance Cameron put an elbow into the guard's throat and finished with a knee to the gut to put the enemy on the ground.

After picking herself up off the ground and wiping herself off Avery surveyed the room before remarking sarcastically, "Well, that was fun. Who wants to do that again?"

"Yeah, it sure was a blast watching you get your ass kicked!" Colton, ever the hot head, was a little overzealous in his response.

"Please, you all left a lot to be desired." Maya stood over a guard as she spoke arrogantly.

"Yeah, because you're such an expert." Colton turned his attention from Avery to Maya.

"Actually I am. I was nearly chosen to be a member of Talia Al Ghul's personal guard."

Hearing Talia's name sparked a memory in Cameron's mind. His dad had worked in the military as a member of a unit that delved into missions regarding superheroes and villains quite often. After a mission in the Middle East Cameron's dad had returned and told him about their encounter with the League of Shadows, not that he was ever allowed to tell anyone.

Colton was about to continue the verbal sparring match when Cameron snapped back to reality and stepped in between the two of them, "Hey, all of you stop it!" Glaring at each Cameron then turned to Avery, "Still got the map memorized? If you don't mind, I'd very much like for us to get out of here."

She answered with a point to her right, "This way."

James and Maya took the lead, sprinting down the hall with Avery and the rest of the group hot on their heels. Stopping at the next intersection they both leaned against the walls to check the coast was clear before continuing their trek toward the launch bay with Avery shouting directions as they ran. After three intersections Cameron began to notice that Tom and Penelope were falling behind with each passing step. James and Maya heeded Cameron's call to halt begrudgingly as the group came to a stop just over halfway to their destination.

"What are we stopping for?" James looked to Cameron, frustrated that their progress was slowed.

Glaring back Cameron retorted, "In case you didn't notice two of our people were falling behind."

James openly scoffed, "Our people? OUR people?! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we're getting out of here together! Got a problem with that?"

"I do, actually! If they can't keep up I don't want them slowing me down."

"Well that's pretty stupid isn't it? You going to take the whole Reach base on by yourself?"

"Maybe. My training's served me pretty well so far."

"Certainly didn't keep you from being captured in the first place."

Both men stared each other down while the rest looked on as the "alpha males" hashed it out.

Maya smirked slightly before breaking the tense silence, "If you don't wouldn't mind measuring your dicks some other time, we should get moving again." Chastity looked shocked with Maya's language use, something that Maya did not fail to notice, "And we're in the middle of escaping from capture and surrounded by aliens and you want to looked shock at my LANGUAGE?"

Trying to calm things down Cameron raised his voice in a forceful tone, "That's enough! Sorry for letting my anger get the better of me just then, but Maya's right. We need to keep moving and this time we stay together."

With the conflict resolved for the time being the rag-tag team continued along the path that Avery had memorized from the computer in the lab. Her innate ability to understand machines and computers had so far served the team quite well during their escape. In addition her brain's ability to piece together a rudimentary translation of the alien language was sure to come in handy when they reached the launch bay. Oddly, the team had yet to see any more patrols. In fact, they hadn't seen anyone at all since their earlier battle. When they were a few minutes away from the launch bay when Avery suddenly stopped mid-step, nearly causing a pile-up behind her. Her jaw dropped when she saw what looked to a timer of some sorts.

Backtracking several feet Cameron came up alongside the black-haired teen, "What are we looking at Avery?"

"It's, uh, it's a timer."

From the front of pack James called back, "For what?"

Avery looked a little shell-shocked as she quickly answered, "I think it's for self-destruct."

The members of the group all visibly blanched at the last statement. What good were their efforts if the whole base was going to explode around them?

Wrapping his head around the new information Cameron pressed Avery for more information, "How much time?"

Avery blinked twice and answered in a haunting whisper, "5 minutes, then we're all dead."

* * *

 


	3. By The Skin of Their Teeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teens battle against time to escape the Reach research base before it explodes.

* * *

**Reach Facility - Pacific Ocean**

" _5 minutes, then we're all dead."_ Avery's words filled the whole group with a sense of dread.

"We're gonna make it, right?" Tom, the youngest of the group, spoke for the first time since the initial escape. No one answered for several seconds, unsure of the answer. Sensing that most of the members of the group were nearly at their ropes end Cameron knew action had to be taken.

"Damn right we are, kid." Looking at the "team", he continued, "We're gonna keep moving to the hangar and get the hell out of here."

"How though?" Chase, normally a very strong willed individual, still felt like the team was doomed Given her past it was as good as time as any to begin to lose hope.

Cameron spoke firmly, projecting confidence he wasn't quite sure he actually felt, "We're gonna steal ourselves one of their escape vehicles."

James narrowed his eyes, as though internally mulling over the options of escape, "Not a bad plan kid. We should get a move on though, 4:30 counting and the hangar is only 100 feet away."

With a sense of purpose the team hauled ass to the hangar, stopping as they entered the launch bay. Rows upon rows of alien craft were lined up, readying to exit the doomed facility. Huddling under the threshold of the door the group was now less than 200 feet from their objective with about 4 minutes to go until the place exploded around them, more than likely sending them all to a fiery death. Most of the group stared in amazement at the level of technology. What struck them the most was that they now knew where they all were, underwater. The launch door was perfectly clear, only some type of force field was holding back the pressure of the water.

Maya, James, and Cameron were doing something similar to the other, only they were checking out guard patterns as the aliens oversaw the evacuation, movement of craft, and their personnel as well. After a quick 15-second scan James turned to Cameron and Maya, sensing that they both had some level of training to work with. "I got our ride out of here. There's a craft with only one guard a couple hundred feet from here, near the bay door. It looks shielded and the crafts fly right through after takeoff. Any idea how we'll actually fly it?"

"That Avery girl should suffice." Maya continued her visual sweep while she answered."

"Yeah, I could do it; we'd need to move now though, not sure how long it will take."

"Alright let's move then." Cameron and James took point with Maya bringing up the rear as the team moved as quickly as possible to the craft. With about 50 feet to go James held up his hand to bring the group to a halt. A guard had unexpectedly changed positions and was coming up on their position. Being discovered would blow their cover and a chance to escape. Cameron, spotting a wrench-type object on the floor, hastily picked it up and threw it expertly at the oncoming, and as of yet clueless, guard. The throw landed on target, striking the guard square in the face. His helmet probably shielded him from death, but the force and timing of the blow rendered him unconscious without question.

With 3:15 minutes and fifteen seconds to spare the team reached the alien submersible, only to find it wasn't quite empty. Cameron was ushering in the group while James and Maya easily dispatched the two pilots. Avery climbed into the pilot seat and began rifling through the controls. The team sat in anxious anticipation that the technical genius could figure out a way to save their behinds and get them out of this mess.

It took Avery just over a minute to get a handle on the craft's basic functions. With a flip of two small red switches to her right the crafts engines roared to life, lifting the craft upward into a steady hover some 15 feet from the ground. Rotating the steering column she brought the craft square with the door and pushed forward, accelerating the craft toward the wall of seawater. The group on instinct gasped as they were sure a great crash was about to happen, only to breathe a sigh of relief as the craft sailed smoothly into the ocean. Sensing the team's reaction Avery explained, "The shield on the door and the craft are the same frequency so we went right through without a problem. Obviously this ship was made for these exits."

James was eager to get a handle on the situation, "Any idea where we are?"

After accelerating the craft Avery pulled some kind of map on the HUD before answering, "Looks to be the Pacific Ocean, near the Marianas Trench."

To their right the group noticed what looked to be weapons fire. "Who the hell are they shooting at down here?"

Suddenly the HUD went red and switched to a radar-like view. A bizarre alien language sounded throughout the craft. It sounded quite hostile to the team. On the ship's computer Avery brought up a rough translation, "Attention craft 11-Alpha-7, you are outside of your designated zone. Comply with evacuation procedures immediately. Non-compliance is not tolerated."

"Shit." Cameron had been hopeful the team would make it out without a fight and his response summed up the feeling from the rest of the group as well. But while most the team was staring at the screen Chase was looking out the port viewport. What she saw made her immediately cry out in excitement, "It's- It's the Justice League!"

"What?" The members of the group responded at nearly the same time.

"I saw the new Blue Beetle floating outside; only some green fish guy appeared out of nowhere to pick him up! The aliens must be shooting at them!"

Realizing that the League must have some kind of stealth craft in the water nearby Cameron rounded on Avery; "Figure out how to broadcast a communication, now!"

While Avery worked the screen flashed red again and another translation scrawled across the HUD, "Turn back into formation or we will be forced to fire upon your craft." Apparently, the aliens weren't too keen on having a rogue craft that might fall into the wrong hands.

"Comms up. We're broadcasting in a pretty wide range. Talk here." Avery gestured to what somewhat resembled a microphone.

Leaning in Cameron was about to speak when the small research facility the team was held at exploded, sending a small shock wave after the initial fireworks. The craft was rocked in the water, catching the group off guard. Most found themselves on the floor or thrown lightly into the bulkheads. Penny fell into the latter group, but unlike the rest who only got a few bruises Penny was unlucky enough to have head connect violently with a computer monitor. In a heap the teen crashed to the ground, unmoving.

Sam moved quickly, moving her hands across the other girl's neck. Sighing she let the team know the news, "She's breathing. There's a cut on her head, though. She's going to need a doctor when we're out of this."

"Let's hope we make it that far." Cameron leaned into the comm to broadcast, "Attention any League craft in this vicinity. We are escaped prisoners aboard an alien vessel. We are-" A warning shot was fired across the vessels hull, "Check that, we are beig fired upon!"

The group collectively held their breath waiting for a response for several seconds. When there was no reply James turned to Avery, "Any chance the weapons work on this tub?"

"I'll try, but no guarantees." The black haired genius got to work running through schematics on the computer and pushing buttons all over the console. Doing the job of two separate pilots was a lot of work apparently. Her efforts were all for naught, however, as she was unable to fly any evasive patterns while activating the weapons systems. This left the craft open for an easy shot, one which the aliens took with ease. The next blast struck one of the two engines on the craft, greatly reducing the speed to a slow crawl through the water.

Cameron and James shared a look that all but said, _At least we gave it a good run._ Tom looked on the edge of breaking down, and Chase and Sam were trying to stay brave, but they all knew the truth. Maya was staring into the ocean as though she didn't care, despite in her inner fears of being taken back. And Avery was trying in vain to get the craft moving again. They all knew the truth: they were either going to be recaptured or killed outright in a matter of seconds. They were quite unprepared to feel the craft shudder and then pick up speed again. All eyes turned to Avery, who pulled up some type of readout that the rest couldn't understand.

"Someone's latched on to us from above. We're heading towards the mainland."

Everyone thought the same thing as they got further away from the exploded Reach base, _What the hell?_

* * *


	4. Reprieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While being towed by an unknown force, the teens take the time to tend to their wounded and begin to understand each other.

* * *

**Reach craft – Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean  
March 31 – 12:30 a.m.**

The escape from the Reach research lab had been a harrowing and adrenaline pumping experience for all nine escapees. Running from constant danger and escaping from certain death has a way of heightening your awareness of your surroundings and putting on alert at all times. It's great when you're running for your life, but not so nice when you're stuck in escape craft with eight other people when meant there is only space for four. SO it goes without saying (but it'll be said anyway) that things were a little awkwardly silent when the craft was being towed to an unknown location by an unknown force.

Avery had tried for about 5 minutes to get the main power restored, but the last round of fire from the Reach forces that took out the engine also overloaded the main power relays according to the team's designated tech expert. Slamming her fist on the console she turned to the group, obviously frustrated.

"Well, that's it. We're officially screwed. No power to communications, weapons, or engines. Thankfully we still have life support."

"Well isn't that just awesome." Colton was clearly less than pleased with the situation.

Alongside Maya and James, Cameron had been staring out the port window into the ocean, but turned and walked to the back of the craft where Sam and Chase, as Chastity had said she preferred to be called, had setup shop monitoring Penny. Penny had suffered a nasty contusion on her head when the craft had been fired upon.

Kneeling down beside the unconscious Penny, Cameron spoke softly to her two guardians, "Any idea how she's doing?"

Sam continued to stare at Penny as she answered, "Well, she's breathing on her own and I checked her eyes. They reacted to the light so I'm guessing she's probably got a concussion but will be ok with time and treatment."

Cameron caught on her comment about the light, "Where'd you get a light? Pretty sure these aliens don't carry flashlights."

Sam just held middle finger and thumb about a half an inch apart. Suddenly a small, yet bright, light appeared between the space, "I conduct and absorb electricity and by making pass between my fingers I can give off some light."

"Well, that sure is handy I guess. I take it you've known about you power for a while?"

"Yeah, since I was around 13." Sam volunteered no more information while her almond colored eyes lingered over her unconscious comrade. Clearly, the possibility of the girl dying was eating away at the black haired teen. Cameron noted the scar tissue around Sam's hands and that her finger and thumb had started bleeding.

"So what's up with your hands?"

Sam stared at her hand for a few seconds before answering, "When I use my power my skin open up on my fingers to let out the current. I guess I could probably let the electricity out anywhere, but the hands are the easiest."

"Does it hurt?"

"Yes, every time."

Trying to keep her focus on other things Cameron continued to speak, "Final question: how'd you know to check her eyes and stuff?"

"Oh, watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy I guess. Plus, I did a little work in an animal hospital. There were a few dogs with head trauma that got brought it in after being hit by cars. I think that some of that stuff applies to humans as well."

"Well, way to keep your head on straight during all this. Would have been pretty easy to start freaking out." Cameron knew full well that it was important to try to keep people's spirits high in this situation. He was hopeful that it was indeed the League that was towing them, but given the circumstances he was preparing for the worst.

Cameron turned his attention to Chase, who had also taken up residence in the rear of the craft. Cameron just took in her appearance for a moment. The girl was obviously very skinny, in fact she was borderline malnourished. She must have been held captive for a long time, much longer than the month that Cameron spent in the cell. Her 5'5" frame was squatting down against the bulkhead. Her hands were holding a silver charm bracelet. To Cameron it looked like a fleur de lis symbol, but regardless it looked important in some way to the girl.

"Interesting bracelet. Mind telling me about it?"

Chase ran her fingers over the silver another time before speaking in a reverent tone, "It was my mother's. She died when I was born. I was a foster kid until I found my grandfather by accident when I was ten."

"Wait, you found your grandfather by accident?"

"Yeah, one of the things of my mom's I was given was this little cross decoration. There was an inscription on the back from some church in the city. I ran away from the foster home to find the church and that's where I found my grandfather. He never even knew my mom was pregnant, but he took me in anyway and raised me. He gave me this bracelet when I turned 11, said it was my mother's."

By now Tom and Colton had wandered to the rear of the craft to listen in as well. Cameron acknowledged their presence with a nod before turning back to Chase, "It's nice you have something of her. My dad and I never spoke of my mom. She was killed in a car crash when I was only about a year old."

Chase kept her eyes focused on the charm bracelet as she spoke, "At least you had a dad. Mine was killed during a bank robbery before I was born. I guess he was able to give me something too." Looking up at the group assembled around her she kept going with the story, "My grandpa told me that he had the same power I do. I can shift my density, becoming completely transparent or super dense."

Tom perked up at that last bit, "Is that how you punched that guy across the room?" Tom's slight Swedish accent raised a few eyebrows, but it the unique speech pattern was largely ignored.

Chase smiled slightly at the young boy's eagerness, "Yeah, I can make myself pretty strong if I have to. It doesn't last long though; I can only keep the shifted form for so long before I have to change back. Pretty handy in fights though, I remember this one time in school I was getting bullied. The guy went to punch me in the stomach, but I made myself as dense as lead. He broke his hand on my stomach." Chase laughed to herself as the memory came flooding back.

When Chase fell silent Tom asked another question, "How did you find out about your power?"

Chase looked up, as though trying to remember, "I was in the orphanage, I think was 'bout 5 or so. This kid kept messing with me, pulling my hair, shoving, you know, stupid kid stuff. Anyway I just wanted it to stop and then the next time he shoved me his arms went right through me. No one believed him. What about you kid?"

With all the attention focused on him Tom shrank back a little, but answered the question anyway, "I found my powers about two years ago when I was 11. I was changing my tire on my bike when my hands started tingling. Then the tire froze solid in my hands. I dropped it and it shattered all over the floor. I started freaking out a little and then another wave of the tingles went across my body and then flames shot out of my hands. I nearly burned the garage down."

Jim, having turned back from his brooding stare into the abyss, interjected, "You've got two powers? That's pretty impressive"

Tom stood a little taller after Jim's compliment, "Yeah, my parents were a little worried about anyone finding out about me, but they let me train in an old WWII bomb shelter near his work." Tom's demeanor became somber as he spoke, "I thought I was doing things right, but then these men followed me to the shelter one day. I remember feeling a needle in my neck and then the next thing I know I woke up in that facility."

When Tom stopped speaking Sam was the first to ask, "How long were you held for?"

"I don't know. Depends on what day it is."

Having heard the conversation Avery yelled back from the pilot's chair, "March 31." The tech expert then began pouring over the computer in the dim emergency lighting.

The group thought about the time difference and how long they'd been held. Tom was the first to speak, "Two weeks."

"A month." Said Cameron

Colton followed, "Three weeks, give or take."

"12 days." Sam was wrapping her hands with a strip of her ripped shirt.

"4 months and 22 days." Chase's statement left many of the group's jaws on the floor. What they didn't fully realize was that it meant that the Reach had been on Earth for at least that long.

Trying to wrap his head around the new information Cameron was almost at a loss for words. To lose over four months of your life to those bastards was damn near unthinkable. Choosing a tact he hoped wouldn't offend Chase, Cameron had to ask, "So I take it they're responsible for the weight loss?"

Chase just looked at her thin hands for a few seconds before answering, "I was always skinny, but let's just say I wasn't treated too nicely for the last few months." Seeing the looks from the group around her she hastily added in low whisper, "And I don't want to talk about it."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments before Colton grew impatient, "Well I guess it's my turn then. I can bend light around me, I mostly use it to make myself invisible."

Maya was sitting off to the side of the group by herself, but apparently had been paying attention as she quickly interjected, "But that comes in real handy for a teenage boy in school."

Colton blushed slightly, remembering his one trip into the girls' locker room. Cameron looked back on the fight with the Reach guards, making him ask, "So can you make force fields too? I mean I remember you smashing that guard into the wall without even touching him."

Colton thought back to the fight as well, "I guess I can. I just thought about blocking his strike so I raised my hand to try to grab the staff. And then he just flew back into the wall. I tried it in the hangar bay when we stopped. I made a force field around a piece of metal and lifted it around."

Tom, ever the pop culture maniac, piped in, "So you're like a jedi! Now all you need is a lightsaber!"

Colton laughed quietly and smiled, "Whatever you say kid."

Cameron was about to share his own past when Avery called from the front of the craft, "Hey you guys might want to take a look at this!"

Jim and Cameron moved to the front as the craft rose from the water. The ocean water poured off the craft as they rose higher and higher above the land below them. The moonlight gave them a decent view of the terrain through the forward viewport. Avery pulled up a map of some kind on the computer, "Looks like we're making a beeline right for Washington D.C.. Why would we be heading there?"

Cameron smiled broadly as his suspicion was looking to be correct, "I'd say we're being taken to the Hall of Justice."

* * *

 


	5. Debrief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The groups finds themselves at the Hall of Justice. Jim, Cameron, and Maya all come under the scrutiny of Nightwing.

* * *

**Washington D.C.  
March 31, 2016 – 12:50 a.m.**

Not long after Avery's declaration that the group was headed to the nation's capital city the sprawling metropolitan area came into view. While the teens were mostly captivated with looking at the D.C. night skyline Cameron was wondering if the League had managed to extend the cloak around the alien craft. _Wouldn't want to get shot at by the army._ Just under a minute later the team felt the craft begin to descend and the view of the world famous Hall of Justice came into view.

Everyone aboard the Reach craft watched in rapt fascination as the flew just over the top of the Hall as an unseen ground door opened up, allowing whoever was piloting the tow craft to easily drop into the ground as the door closed above them. With a light bump the craft was released from the support vehicle and a few seconds later Cameron and the rest of the group watched in awe as Nightwing and a group of heroes stepped out of the now de-cloaked red ship.

A voice from the back of the craft drew their attention from the scene, "Uh, my head is killing me. What the heck happened?" Penny put her hand to her blonde hair, only to pull it away as she felt it was somehow wet. Seeing the blood on her hand she barely reacted at all, "Well, that certainly sucks."

Cameron smirked at her reaction to her injury before he turned to Avery, "Hey, can you get this door open or we gonna have to rip it open?"

Checking some read outs on the computer screen Avery quickly answered, "Yeah, just give me a sec."

Colton, having heard the door would soon be open, gestured for those gathered around the still out of it Penny to stand back. With a look of concentration in his hazel eyes Colton put a hand out as Penny's body was suddenly lifted from the floor of the craft.

Maya remembered her remark from earlier, "Well I guess it comes in handy now too."

Just then the door open with an audible hiss. Cameron and Jim were the first out the door to greet their rescuers, but were not prepared for the sight that met their eyes. Nightwing and Superboy, both well-known heroes, were in a fighting stance as though they expected the group to attack them. The other members of his team that were able to stand were also encircling the group.

Reacting quickly Jim tried to defuse the situation, "Uh, is it too late to say we come in peace?"

Nightwing relaxed slightly, though didn't make any moves to welcome them either, "Can't take that chance right now to believe you. We tried hailing you multiple times over the last hour and never got a reply."

Avery, having stepped out the craft, filling Nightwing in on the situation, "The main power's fried on this thing. I tried doing a workaround to use the communications with emergency power, but it didn't work."

"Thankfully we got that distress call off before we were hit." Cameron had picked up right where Avery finished.

Nightwing turned to Superboy, signaling the demi-kryptonian to stand down, "Fine, but until we sort out who you are and why you were in that facility you're all going to holding."

"That's alright with me." Cameron stepped to the side, gesturing over his shoulder, "But one of our people got banged up pretty bad in the escape. She just woke up, but is still pretty woozy from a blow to the head. We'll go to your 'holding' if she gets taken care of."

Nightwing gave a curt nod. Superboy escorted Colton and the still levitated Penny down a hallway while Nightwing and the rest of the Young Justice squad led the group to a large room with only one exit.

When everyone was in the room Nightwing turned to Cameron, "We're going to take you all out and get your stories straight. You said 'our people' earlier, so who led you guys out that deathtrap?"

Cameron hesitated at the question. He wasn't really sure what the rest of the group thought about the situation, or if he even wanted to take that title at all. Thinking it over for a couple seconds his pointed at Jim, "Probably Jim, he'd be able to tell you more about what all went down than me. I was just kind of winging it for the most part."

Nightwing nodded at Jim and turned toward the door. The 20-year old looked over at Cameron, as though contemplating the younger man's words before he followed the costumed hero to wherever the debriefing/interrogation would take place. The door closed behind the pair of men, leaving the other 8 escapees to wait.

Cameron turned to group, "Well, now we wait, I guess."

* * *

After a few left turns Jim followed Nightwing in to a fairly standard interrogation room. He'd seen his share during his training as a field agent for the government, though he'd never been the one being interrogated. He about to start that final bit of training before he was captured by the Reach scientists.

Motioning for Jim to sit, Nightwing sat opposite him. Picking up a table of some kind the hero opened up a data program as he began asking Jim questions about himself and the escape.

"So, let's start with the basics. Name?"

"James Stevens."

"Age?"

"20."

"Where are you from?"

"Chicago."

"What do you do?"

"I was being trained for field agent work by the CIA. Which is probably why you won't find anything in your database about me without hacking the CIA firewalls."

He barely caught Nightwing's smirk before the hero spoke, "Did that months ago actually, have your file right here."

Jim's eyes widened in shock at Nightwing's boast. He had been told that the CIA firewall was the most secure in the world. Was this Nightwing character really that good?

He soon found out when the hero quickly rattled off information straight from the CIA database, "James Stevens, recruit, highest ranking in your class. 6'1", 185 lbs., excellent marksman, third best the program has ever seen and masterful tactician as well. Candidate for advanced stealth classes excels with bow and arrow. The only negative in your file points to issues with other individual agents that causes conflict on team assignments. Sound about right?" Nightwing looked up at Jim, who was a little shocked at the ease in which the information was accessed.

"Uh, yeah."

"So, when were you taken?"

"Just under a month ago. I was on a field assignment in Sweden keeping tabs on a meta-human kid the agency was interested. I saw he was getting taken by weird looking people. I was about to radio in the situation, but the same people must have seen me and taken me to wrap up the loose ends. Don't know why they kept me alive though."

"We do. The aliens, known as the Reach have been conducting research on the human meta-gene. You must have shown the genetic potential they were looking for and attempted to active your dormant gene. Were they unsuccessful?"

"I think so, I haven't shown any powers yet. How do you know all this stuff?"

Nightwing pondered his response for a moment, "We've got valuable sources on information on this intel."

Not missing a beat Jim was quick to respond, "Well that's a little cryptic."

Nightwing chose to change the topic, "How did you and the rest of the group escape from the facility?"

Jim paused for a second to recall all the events that had occurred in the past few hours, "I'm not sure why, but the power went out in our section of the ship and the cells containment shut down. I was asleep and heard the sirens go off and when I came Cameron was already getting out of his cell. While we were introducing ourselves briefly Avery, I think her name was, went to a computer and found a map and way out."

"How did she manage that?"

"I don't know, she said she's good with computers. And she was right every single time, so we just went with whatever she said. After we started toward the launch bay we ran into a group of guards, but we took them down easily enough considering we're all trained or have some pretty awesome abilities."

Nightwing made a few notes on the pad as Jim continued, "After the fight we found out there was a self-destruct about to go off so we high-tailed out to an escape craft, but apparently the aliens noticed us. Cameron called you all right before we got hit and lost power. And the rest you know."

"Thanks, I'm gonna send you back to the room and talk to a few of the other's if you don't mind. Anyone in particular we should talk to?"

"I'd go with Cameron, Maya, or Avery. They all handled themselves pretty well in the escape. I know Maya definitely said she was ex-League of Shadows."

The last bit caught Nightwing's attention, she was definitely who he would talk to next.

* * *

Nightwing repeated his escort Jim, only this time with the ex-assassin following him to the interrogation room. When both were seated he got right to the questions.

"So, Jim tells me your ex-League of Shadows. Care to explain?"

Maya, sitting with her arms crossed, stared at Nightwing from across the small metal table, "Not particularly."

"I'm afraid I'll have to insist that you do."

With a huff Maya sat up straighter, "Fine. I grew up in Nada Parat, before Ra's took it over as his base of operations. When I was twelve me entire family and village was burned to the ground, but me and a few other children were allowed to live and be trained as assassins. After they broke me I excelled, I was even considered to one day be a member of Talia's personal guard."

Maya inexplicably fell silent, causing Nightwing to press her for more, "So what made you leave?"

"Staring down at the ground Maya answered after several long seconds, "I was given a kill order at the age of 15 and did not complete the assignment because I felt the target did not deserve to die. It did not go over well with the Shadows. While I was being 'punished'" The teen involuntarily shuddered at the memory, "I overheard Sportsmaster telling Ra's to be careful that I didn't turn out like his daughter Artemis." At the mention of his teammates name Nightwing tensed up slightly, though Maya failed to notice before she continued, "After that I learned everything I could about this 'Artemis' and found out how she was branded a traitor to the League when she joined the heroes. I knew I wouldn't kill for the Shadows and that if I didn't they would kill me, so I decided to escape during my next assignment a few months later when I had healed properly."

"I take it you were successful?"

"For a while I was. About a year and a half after my escape I thought I was free of the Shadows. I got sloppy and it cost me. They cornered me in a restaurant in Istanbul and took me back to Ras's for execution, but he decided against it. Said something about his partners wanting to study me or something. That was two weeks ago."

"Don't suppose you have any powers?"

Maya was miffed at Nightwing's question, "I may not have 'powers', but I am far from powerless."

Nightwing immediately regretted his word choice, "Sorry! I wasn't trying to offend. What I was getting at was that the people who captured you were obviously trying to unlock your dormant meta-gene, but for some reason they couldn't. Same with Jim. The meta-gene requires some pretty unique circumstances to actually activate and result in abilities. Did the rest of the group have powers?"

"Yes, some more extreme than others. I know most were aware of their powers before they were captured and were effectively able to use them during our escape, though everyone but Cameron and Jim were very inexperienced."

Nightwing had picked up on the Cameron/James leadership dynamic earlier when they arrived at the Hall and decided to test the waters with Maya on the subject, "Tell me about Jim and Cameron. I haven't talked with the latter yet, but there seems to be a little leadership struggle between them."

Maya was quickly growing impatient with the questions and answered as bluntly as possible, "We were attempting to escape from an alien facility, so I wouldn't say there was a real 'struggle' between them. Jim made the tactical decision to move as fast as possible to the exit whatever the cost. While I would usually be more in line with Jim, I respected Cameron's dedication to getting everyone out alive and staying together, even if it did make us slow down at a key point in the escape."

Nightwing handed Maya the tablet, "This is Jim's version of the escape, anything you want to add in?"

Taking a couple minutes to look it over the ex-assassin handed the table back, "No, what he wrote is what happened."

* * *

For the last session Nightwing stayed in the interrogation room while Superboy went to get Cameron from the holding cell. While he waited the vigilante went back over his brief meeting with Avery. Apparently, the girl's brain was able to intrinsically understand computers and mechanics at a way never before seen in a human being. Even if it was in a different language she would be able to get to the base code of the software and learn the language almost instantly. Which, when Nightwing thought about, is especially useful when navigating an alien research base and subsequently escaping from it. He had noted that she could come in handy when dealing with the Reach's inevitable invasion.

The sudden opening of the door brought Nightwing's attention to his last debriefee from the group. He'd get to the rest tomorrow, but wanted to hit the ring leaders before too much time passed. Nightwing observed as Cameron entered the room, using his powers of observation on the slightly younger man. He'd only seen Cameron for a few moments beforehand so this was the first chance to get a proper look at him. He guessed that Cameron was about 5'11" and 170 pounds. He had a quiet confidence in his demeanor, something that to Nightwing's trained eye screamed that the boy was military in some way.

Picking up the tablet Nightwing jumped right into the last debriefing of the night, "So, I'm told your name is Cameron?"

"Yes, Cameron Spear."

"You by any chance from Georgia?" Nightwing's question threw off the blue eyed teen.

Looking puzzled Cameron responded slowly, "Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?"

Looking right at Cameron, Nightwing showed him the footage on the tablet, "We've had you on our radar for a few months." The footage was of Cameron's second perfect game of his baseball career. While that itself wasn't unheard of at the high school level what was odd was that it was back to back games.

Nightwing turned the tablet back to himself as he pulled up more footage, "The League routinely runs data analysis to find crime patterns or scientific anomalies worth investigating. You fell into the latter. Pitching two perfect games in a row in 10th grade jumped to the top of the list and Batman made sure tabs were kept on you." Nightwing noticed the pissed off look on Cameron's face, "Don't worry, the League wasn't too happy when they found out that Bats was keeping tabs on a bunch of kids around the world, but they had to eat crow when they found Bats was right about you."

Nightwing, having found the right footage, turned the tablet back to Cameron, "This was from your first night on patrol wasn't it?" The footage showed Cameron taking on several muggers in hand-to-hand combat, downing the first three with relative ease. The fourth ran away around the corner, but Cameron calmly pulled a pistol and ricocheted a shot off a lamp post and as the other camera showed, put the bullet in the calf of the fleeing criminal.

Cameron watch the footage and smiled at the memory passed through his mind, "Not bad for a first time out."

"As far as debut's go, yours was quite good. So much so that you were pretty high on the recruitment list for this very team before you disappeared. This was probably right before you were grabbed. We were going to wait a little while to talk to you seeing as how your father had just passed away and we didn't want to pressure you, then you fell of the grid. ." Cameron's face changed to one of sadness, but Nightwing steamed right ahead, "The file says he was killed in Syria during a mission involving some highly classified technology."

Cameron tensed as Nightwing continued on read his file from the tablet, "Captain Atom made a note in the file that he actually knew your dad. Care to elaborate?"

Cameron looked up the floor to face Nightwing, "Yeah, that must be who my dad meant by having a friend in the hero world. He was a part of a unit that had to deal with missions involving super powered individuals. We knew about my power for a few years and my dad trained me in how to use it with weapons and fighting, but he thought about trying to get ahold of the League to really test what I could do. Then, he died." Cameron's gaze returned to the stone floor.

Nightwing notice the effect the subject was having and endeavored to change it, "Hey, how about you actually fill me in on your ability? The shot in this footage is insane, not even Deadshot could hit that target."

"I'm what me and dad call a 'hyper-kinetic'. Basically my brain is slightly more evolved in that it takes all the input data from my surroundings and processes it at lightning fast speeds." Nightwing was looking a little confused how that meant Cameron could ricochet bullets, so Cameron set to work explaining it, "This translates to me being able to react to things than any normal human as well. I also have an innate understanding of kinetic energy of not only my own body, but others as well. After seeing my target I'll know exactly how to take them down, either lethally or not."

"So what's with the gun?"

"Well, I do use knives as well, but guns are sort of natural given my ability. I'm good with a bow to, but I'm not a huge fan of it."

"They're a little lethal for my taste."

Cameron quickly cut of the older hero, "True, but when you can do what I can then it only becomes a question of whether I want to use them to kill or to wound the target. I've also used rubber bullets, but they're pretty expensive to get on the regular market."

Nightwing pondered Cameron's answer and ended up grinning, "Well we won't have a problem keeping non-lethal rounds stocked."

"Meaning?"

"Well, I kind of figured you might want to help take down the bastards that captured you. Was I wrong?"

Cameron was shocked at the completely unexpected request, "Hell yeah I would, but what about the rest of us?"

Nightwing sighed a little, "Well I'm not going to lie to you, we're scrapping the bottom of the barrel in terms of numbers and the Reach invasion is looking to be happening soon. We need fighters and we need them now. We aren't going to force anyone to join and fight the good fight, but it sure would be nice to have people who know what they're doing, you know?"

Cameron nodded, "I do, I'll ask the others in the morning. I figure we should get some sleep before thinking about it too much."

Both men stood to leave the room as Nightwing had the last word, "Good, I'll check in tomorrow with you."

* * *

 


	6. Decisions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group contemplates joining Nightwing and the team to fight the coming Reach invasion.

* * *

**March 31, 2016 – 2:15 a.m.  
Hall of Justice**

Following the debriefings Nightwing had his team bring in cots and some blankets and pillows for the newcomers to the Hall of Justice. The escape had taken a lot of the group of nine and after only a few minutes they were all out like light bulbs. Superboy and Nightwing, the two most senior members of the team, met in the conference room. Hawkeye, another senior member of the original team, also joined them.

Superboy watched as Nightwing ran through the data on the captured Reach craft. After a few minutes of silence the clone spoke up, "So I suppose you're gonna just ask them to join, no questions asked? It's not like we've got other problems to worry about." Kon's last statement hung in the air, but was a vague mention of the other responsibilities of the team, such as taking care of Bart, handling Arsenal's rehabilitation, and tracking a new vigilante in Gotham who had so far eluded every team Nightwing sent to track him. Plus, there was that whole looming alien invasion thing that was the biggest elephant in a room full of them.

Sensing Kon's frustration with the matter Nightwing turned to face the Kryptonian, "As a matter of fact I am, only I never said there wouldn't be questions asked or that they would go untrained. Some of them have real potential and we all know there is no certainty that the League is going to make it back in time to stop the invasion."

None of the three present mentioned that there was also no guarantee that the League would come back at all, but they both understood the possible reality of the situation. Hawkeye pondered the situation for a moment. He looked at Nightwing with a knowing glance, "You're going to make them a team, aren't you?"

The team leader turned to the two and gave a Batman-like stare, "Yes."

As Nightwing turned back to his computer monitor both knew that they would get nothing else out of the former Boy Wonder and headed back toward their respective quarters.

**BREAK-BREAK-BREAK**

**March 31 – 10:30 a.m.**

In the temporary guest quarters Maya was the first of the group to awaken. The ex-assassin swung her legs over the side of the cot and surveyed the room. Looking at the seven people around her she thought how surreal it was that an assassin was sitting as a guest in the Hall of Justice. When she recalled the events of the escape she still couldn't believe that they had all made it out alive, Penny's head wound not withstanding. Eventually her green eyes settled on the Cameron, who was still sleeping. Maya was unsure as to the reason, but she felt somehow drawn toward the young man who had been a part of their breakout from the Reach base. She realized for the first time just how much she missed out on when she had been forced to grow up as an assassin.

Cameron stirred suddenly and woke up quickly, as though coming out of a harrowing dream. Seeing him awaken Maya quickly looked away. Cam rubbed his eyes before standing and stretching his arms. Looking around him he quickly spotted to the awake and alert Maya and made his way toward her.

"Hey, we need to talk."

Maya was a little taken aback at his forwardness, "And who's 'we'?"

Cameron didn't hesitate to answer, "You, me, and Jim."

"You're supposed to say, 'You, Jim, and I.'" Maya smiled devilishly, though she wasn't quite sure shy she felt it necessary to get under the boy's skin this early in the day.

Cameron closed his eyes in frustration, "Don't tell me you're one of _those_ people? I can't stand grammar correctors!"

"Well, fine. Then why does Jim need to be in on this little 'talk' of yours?"

"Because we need to talk about something important."

"Well that doesn't really answer my question now does it?"

Cameron threw his hands up in the air, "God, you're impossible!"

Jim had only been sleeping about eight feet away from Maya's cot and was decidedly less than pleased about being woken up by two arguing teenagers that had for some reason dropped his name into their conversation, "Are you two going at it already? Get a freaking room!"

The two fell silent until Jim made his way over to them, making the duo a trio, "So what's so important that your arguing woke me up?"

Cameron sighed before answering, "As I was going to say, Nightwing asked if we wouldn't mind staying around for a little while."

Jim had shock written all over his face, "What like stay here? And do what exactly, train?"

Jim's outburst woke most of the rest of the group, though none of the three noticed as Cameron responded, "I think that's what he was getting as, yeah."

The idea intrigued Maya, though she hid her emotions behind her well-built emotional facade, "Why would he ask us?"

Cameron rubbed the back of his neck, "As he put, the League is running low on people right now and the intel from the ship and other sources points to an imminent alien invasion."

"Did you just say INVASION?" Colton's booming voice startled the three eldest of the group, who all turned to see the rest of the teens had all woken up in the last few minutes thanks to the raised voices around them.

Cameron was unsure how to respond, but thankfully Nightwing walked through the door at the precise moment with Penny right behind him. Sam went over to Penny and gave her a quick hug, which the recently injured girl found a little odd. Sam noticed the hesitation, "Oh, sorry. I kind of made sure you didn't die on the ship after you hit your heard. Nice to see you up and around."

Penny visibly relaxed after the explanation, "Oh, thanks, I guess."

Having heard Colton's question the experienced hero in the room fielded the question himself, "Getting back to Colton's question: Yeah Cameron did say invasion." Nightwing stared around the room, as though gauging the reactions to the news by everyone in the room, "Look, you all have talents and knowledge that could prove really useful in the coming fight, either through training or your powers."

There was silence for a few moments before Nightwing continued, "It is, of course, completely voluntary. I'm perfectly fine with letting you all go back home, though I think you should be fully aware of the situation first before you make a decision."

Nightwing turned the lights down before opening his wrist computer and showing the group an assortment of images. Pointing to ones of aliens like the ones that captured the group he began explaining the lay of the land, "So these guys are called the Reach. They've been secretly partnering with a villainous group known as the Light." Nightwing then pulled up pictures of Lex Luthor, Vandal Savage, Queen Bee, and several others, "For a few months they've been kidnapping people all over the world to experiment on something called the 'meta-gene', which is what gives some of you your powers. All nine of you that escaped have the meta-gene, but not all of you developed powers." Nightwing nodded to James and Maya as he kept speaking, "We believe their goal is to find a way to control and possibly deactivate the human meta-gene."

Penny, fresh from the medical facility, was a little curious about the situation, "Why would they want to do that?"

"Well, to put it simply. They want a way to neutralize most of Earth's heroes when they attempt to take over the planet."

Colton was still a little incensed that they weren't told about all of these when they first arrived and it showed in challenge of Nightwing, "If you guys know all this why haven't you gone to the public?"

Nightwing changed images on his computer to show the first contact meeting between the Reach and the United Nations from the previous day, "Because they went public first."

Jim shook his head, "Clever bastards, I'll give them that." All attention turned to the oldest in the room, "If the Leagues comes out the evidence now it'll look like they're fear mongers and made out like their trying to start a fight."

"Well that's pretty stupid, why would people think that?" Tom hadn't ever really gotten into watching the news and wasn't a little out of the loop on the current events.

Thankfully Cameron was fully aware of the situation, "It's because of the supposed alien invasion back in January, right?" When Nightwing nodded Cameron continued, "The League took a bit hit with that whole thing and this wouldn't look all that good to the public."

Nightwing sighed, "Jim and Cameron are both correct. As it is right now, we don't have the fire power to take on an alien invasion."

Nightwing was forced to stop the briefing as a red blur blew into the room and started talking a mile a minute, "Heywhoarethenewguys? Idon'trememberthemfromthehistroyb ooks? Oops,spoilers!" The fast-talking newcomer quickly slapped his hand over his mouth and ran back out of the room when Nightwing turned to berate him for his lack of manners.

Nightwing sighed, shaking his head, "Sorry about the interruption. If you stick around I'll tell you the story, but for now don't ask. As I was saying, we're in dire need of people who can actually help up us off the coming invasion. Which, given the presence of the guy who just ran in and left, really is only a matter of time."

The group stood in stunned silence for several very long seconds before Nightwing spoke up again, "I'll leave you all some time to think it over."

As the hero turned to leave Sam stepped toward him, "Um, do you think we could maybe call our families too?"

This caused Nightwing to pause in his tracks, "I'll need to talk to the League about that. You might be able to call them, but they can't know what's going on. We don't want to start any wild rumors that get turned into a panic. Who all needs to get a hold of somebody?" Tom, Colton, Sam, and Penny all quickly raised their hands. "OK, when things get set up I'll let you know. Just think over my offer for now." And with that the black and blue clad man stepped out of the room.

When the door shut behind Nightwing Avery was the first to speak, "Well, I'm in."

Cameron was wondering how the girl could have come to such a quick decision, "What makes you want to stay."

Avery, never one to mince words, said exactly what was on her mind, "Because the League has the best tech on the planet. I'm not passing up a chance to tinker around in this place. There's some rumors online about the League having a super-secret satellite base. How cool would it be to get aboard and see it!"

Avery's enthusiasm lessened the unease throughout the room. Penny was the next to offer an opinion, "I don't want to speak for everyone, but I'm thinking I might stay after I talk to my parents. If there was anywhere I could learn to get a handle on this ability of mine, it's here." There were murmurs of agreement from the teens who had so far exhibited super-human abilities, after all, the League was the go to source on handling and controlling a person's abilities. And it wasn't like staying to learn about their powers meant they'd actually have to fight.

"I think I'm out." Maya spoke quickly from the back of the room. "No offense, but teams aren't really my thing."

The group was once again silent as the first dissenter voiced her opinion. Jim cleared his throat, "I think I'm going to stay. I'll have to check in with my superiors, but with the intel that the League has and like Avery said, all the tech, they're the best bet to beat the invasion if it does actually happen."

Cameron was the last to say what was on his mind, "I'm in too. We could do some real good out there, and we already kicked some ass without even knowing each other." Cam stopped and smirked as he thought of something, "But we really could use a trained assassin. Happen to know anyone that fits that bill?" Cam looked around the group in mock curiousness.

Maya was less than pleased to be called out like that in front of the group. She stared down Cameron cooly before answering, "Fine, we'll see how it goes." Deciding to play Cameron's game she over exaggerated her movements as she crossed her arms and haughtily threw her noise up in the air, "Besides, you all wouldn't know stealth if it slapped you in the face."

The older of the group all shared a knowing glance and shared a silent laugh as they watched Cameron and Maya trade barbs.

* * *


	7. The Boy with the Flaming Fists

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom begins his pyro kinesis training with Hawkeye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features Hawkeye, the OC of my own creation from Strange New World. It isn't strictly necessary to read that, but I hope you take the time to do so.

* * *

**April 15** **th** **, 2016 – 8:15 a.m.  
Hall of Justice Training Facility**

"Happy Tax Day!" Sam's loud and chipper voice woke up most of the crew from their respective slumbers, even those who were several rooms away.

Avery was the first to verbally respond with a loud shout the easily reached in Sam's room across the hall, "What's so happy about taxes?!"

For just about the last two weeks the group of escapees had been staying and training together in the Hall of Justice. Most of the training had been team oriented, just to give everyone of feel for what the other members of the team were capable of. Slowly, they were better getting to know one another. At first it had been quite awkward for everyone involved, but things were starting to smooth out as time went on, such as Sam's optimism about the situation after she acclimated to her new surroundings.

With Sam serving as the burgeoning team's alarm clock the rest of the stragglers hauled themselves out of bed for what was surely going to be another grueling day of training. After getting ready for the day and exchanging a few half-asleep hellos, the group of nine slowly walked into the briefing room to get the days assignments from Nightwing, who had essentially become their training officer.

Nightwing was already in uniform as the team approached him. He spoke loudly to get their attention, "You're right on time: today is going to start with more individual weapons and power training and the back half of the day will consist of combat training as a team. You will all face one opponent and hold out for as long as you can."

"Who's the opponent?" The eagerness to actually fight something was starkly written on Colton's features.

Nightwing smiled confidently, "Me."

This caused Colton's eagerness to rapidly fade. Nightwing was a pretty popular hero despite his covert status. It was long rumored that he had at some point had been trained by Batman himself, considering how often the black and blue clad vigilante showed up in Gotham City. Still, while his enthusiasm for the fight had diminished Colton was also excited to further test and hone his ability. Like many members of the team Colton had been aware of his power for some time before his capture, but it wasn't until during the escape he'd found that in addition to the invisibility he could also bend the light around him to create a type of force field.

Each member of the team looked at each other after Nightwing's proclamation, but they didn't get time to mull things over too much as the zeta-beams announced a slew of heroes coming from various locations around the globe. As the tubes glowed brightly Black Canary, Green Arrow, Captain Atom, Hal Jordan, Static, Hawkeye, and Red Arrow all stepped into the room. Miss Martian, Robin, and Superboy all entered the briefing room from the side entrance. Acknowledging their presence Nightwing then refocused on the newly formed team, "Today you individual training is also going to be overseen by various members of the League and this covert team." At this news there was palpable buzz from the youngsters as Nightwing rattled off the assignments, "Tom, you're with Hawkeye. He'll work with you on your flame ability. We're still trying to find someone to help with the ice." Tom and Hawkeye shook hands by way of introduction and headed off down the hall to their training room. Thankfully the Hall had a labyrinth of underground rooms that were setup for these exact purposes.

Nightwing next turned to Chase, "You will be training with Superboy and Miss Martian on your density shifting and use of enhanced strength." M'gann gave Chase a smile while Superboy just grunted his acknowledgement as the trio headed to another room.

"Colton, you're with Green Lantern, focus on honing your force field ability and practice some more with the invisibility." Hal motioned for the teen to follow him after Nightwing finished.

"Penny, you will be training with Magneta."

Robin stepped forward, drawing the attention from Nightwing, "Avery, you'll be coming with me to work on the REACH craft you all escaped in."

"Sam," Nightwing wing resumed doling out assignments, "you'll be training with Static." The young black hero motioned for Sam to follow him.

Black Canary looked Maya as she spoke, "And you'll be working with me for the day." She looked at Roy for a brief moment before continuing, "Dealing with ex-assassins is kind of my specialty of mine."

With most of the heroes already paired off for training only Jim and Cameron were left of the original nine. Nightwing nodded to Green Arrow who approached the eldest of the newcomers, "Jim, is it?" Jim nodded, "Alright, I'm going to work with you on weapons training. Any good with a bow?" Again Jim nodded, which seemed to put the elder archer at ease, "Good, because I'm going to make you better." The pair then set off for a training area in the bowels of the Hall. Now only Captain Atom, Red Arrow, and Nightwing were left with Cameron.

The League's tactical specialist looked solemn as sadness was written over his silver-lined face, "I was sorry to hear about your father. I knew him pretty well; he was in the squad that I was usually tasked to for Army mission." As the Captain remembered a particular harrowing mission he actually smiled slightly, "He was a good man, saved my life once or twice to boot."

Cameron briefly felt the grief of his father's death return. It had only been five months ago that Cameron's father, Pat, had been killed on a mission in the Middle East. For the most part the young man had been healing from the trauma of losing a parent, but one never really gets over it completely. Still, he figured that at least his father's death had meant something to people that matter, at least if Captain Atom's words meant anything, "Thanks. He always said he had a friend on the League. Nice to know he wasn't blowing smoke out his ass." The quartet all laughed lightly at the play on words from the 18-year old.

The Captain had laughed the most, "Nice to see that your father's colorful language was successfully passed on."

Nightwing turned to Atom for a moment, "We'll have the meet in a few minutes after I get Cameron squared away." He turned back to Cameron, "You'll be practicing on targets with Red Arrow for the day and whatever else he sees fit for you to do."

The red-haired archer nodded to the boy who was two years his junior. Both walked silently out of the room as Captain Atom and Nightwing watched. Captain Atom had only one question for the League's most trusted ally, "You really think they can make it work? As a team, I mean."

Nightwing mulled the question over for a few seconds, "Actually, I do. It might take a little time, but I think they can be exactly what we need."

"Let's hope we have that kind of time." The Captain's last words hung in the air and the zeta tube spun up, signaling the arrival of several other League members for the briefing mission about the impending invasion.

* * *

Tom walked briskly side-by-side with the hero known as 'Hawkeye'. Tom was pretty up-to-date on his heroes, but this guy was a complete mystery to the 13-year old. Tom's shyness warred with his curiosity about his trainer.

The curiosity won out, though only in hushed and shy tones, "So what's your name?"

The 6'3" man didn't break stride as he quickly answered the young teen, "Mine's Thomas, nice to meet you."

Tom's eyes grew slightly, realizing that both shared the same name. He couldn't help but think, _how cool is it to share your name with a hero?_

With this new information Tom's curiosity rose to new heights as the duo continued walking, "So who exactly are you? I mean, I don't think I've ever heard of you."

Still walking quickly, Hawkeye answered, "Well, as you heard Nightwing my codename is Hawkeye." Thinking about Tom's second question Hawkeye just smirked cockily, "As to your second question, I'd say that's a testament to how good I am that no one actually knows I even exist."

With his mind thinking a mile a minute Tom peppered Hawkeye with a multitude of questions, "So you use fire too? How old are you? How long have you been a hero? What's your costume like? Where are you from?"

When the teen took a breath Thomas chuckled at his eagerness, "Slow down kid. Firstly, yeah, I'm pretty good with flame manipulation. Secondly, I'm 21. Third, I've been 'heroing' for about four years with Nightwing and the team. Fourth, I guess it's kind of like Nightwing's, but with gold instead of blue. We were thinking up costume designs when I first started and he like it so much he just modified the design slightly and the changed the colors on his version. Lastly, I actually from the greatest state in America: Iowa. How about you?"

The duo stepped into an elevator and slowly began their four floor descent as Tom talked about himself, "I'm from Sweden."

"Ah, I thought I detected a little accent in your voice."

"Well, my mom's American, so I grew up hearing both, which probably shaped how I talk."

"'Wing said you found out about your powers on your own?"

"Yeah, the flames and ice happened one after the other. Nearly burned the garage to the ground. May, was my dad upset."

Hawkeye let out a small laugh, "I don't doubt it. I found out I could use flames a few months after I broke out of where I was being held and ran into Red Arrow." Thomas stopped talking at that point, hinting at a deeper back story that Tom desperately wanted to hear. Story time would have to wait as the duo had arrived at their destination for the day. As the door opened Tom was struck by the sheer size of the room. The ceilings were easily 20 feet high and the whole area was roughly 80 feet across.

"Why's it so tall?"

"Because flames burn up our oxygen. A room this big allows time for the League's ventilation system to continually pump air into the room, no matter how much we burn off." As Tom looked around the room and spotted the practice dummies on the far wall Hawkeye got started right away with the training, "Consider that lesson number 1 for the day. If you get in an enclosed space, like getting trapped in Star Sapphire's sphere construct for example, and you burn up the air, it's only going to cause you and your team to pass out. Trust me; it happened to me on one of my early missions."

Hawkeye led Tom to a point about 20 feet from a black box on the south wall, "Alright, here's what I want you to do: throw a flame at that sensor and go as hot as you can. It'll check the temperature and I'll watch your control as then sensor moves around the wall. Watch and I'll show you."

Hawkeye held his hands up and away from his chest and created a wall of flame between the 8 inches that separated them. Flexing his whole body the flame turned white hot as he slowly pressed his hands together as though making a ball from the flame. With the flame now in his left hand Hawkeye reared back before throwing his arm forward toward the sensor. Immediately a read-out appeared several feet above the senor along with a timer that was counting down from 10. When the clock struck 0 the sensor moved in a random fashion, making Hawkeye adjust his flame to track it. Alongside the readout a percentage count began, showing what amount of time that the sensor was touched by the flames. Essentially it told the user how well they would have tracked a moving target. It stood at 98% as Hawkeye ceased the torrent of flame from his hand.

"That's how it's done. First I'm just going to register how hot you can get without having the sensor move, ok? When I say, I want you to go as hard as you can."

When Hawkeye flashed thumbs up, Tom began his attempt. He'd never seen another pyro kinetic and had no real technique of his own so he took a page from Hawkeye's book. To his astonishment it really helped him build up the flame temperature and intensity. Throwing his arm out he was amazed as the temperature on the read out easily surpassed 5,000 degrees. Pushing hard caused the temperature to being a steady climb up to 8,000. Feeling lightheaded from the effort, Tom had to cease his attempt.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all." Hawkeye had come over to check on the youngster, "Don't worry, you'll be fine. It can take a lot of you when you're really pushing it."

Tom took a deep breath before speaking, "How high can you get?"

"We think hot enough to ignite the atmosphere if I really wanted, though it would definitely kill me. Nightwing's probably got some doomsday scenario planned out where I'm the last alive thanks to my healing factor and I have to nuke the planet." Seeing the horrified look on Tom's face Hawkeye immediately backtracked, "Hey, I'm only joking about that last part. But I really had to push myself a about a year back when one of team's safe houses on the west coast was compromised. The sensor data we recovered showed how close I got to actually nearly killing everyone on the planet. Took four months to get back to 100%, which is something when you're supposedly immortal." Hawkeye looked at the temperature readout and remembered his first attempt all those years ago, "You're honestly about where I was started. I'm sure you'll be able to hotter in no time. Plus, you'll have to if you ever want to try flying."

At the mention of flying Tom seemed quite surprised and his brightened considerably. Hawkeye didn't fail to notice, "Oh yeah, we flame throwers have a few different ways to fly. The best is probably the method where we basically cover ourselves in flames and fly kind of like a rocket, but with better handling. The great things that as I'm sure you noticed the flames we make don't burn us, but unfortunately that isn't the same for our clothes. The field of flame we'd create for flight would completely destroy normal clothes. So until we invent a suit that's flameproof at that high of temperatures that option is generally off the table." Hawkeye suppressed a laugh recalling his first attempt at flight, "I tried it once a few years ago. I didn't think about the clothes situation and it led to me being naked in the training room with Artemis in her sports bra and shorts from training. Wally walked in right after that. It was a little awkward for a while with them."

Tom was a little thrown by the names of people he'd never met, but he was still quite interested in what Hawkeye was saying, "You said there were other ways to fly?"

Bringing himself back to the present Hawkeye eagerly answered the next question after thinking about the best way to describe the method, "Yeah, have you ever seen Iron Man?"

Tom grew excited at the reference to one of his favorite characters from the Marvel Universe, "Only like a bagillion times!"

Hawkeye laughed, "Ok, it's kind of like that, with your feet supplying the initial take off push and your hands being the extra speed and stabilizers. With practice you can work on making sure that the flames stay just far enough away from your skin to not burn your clothes off, but it takes a lot of concentration. I generally only use it to fly between cities, as opposed to using it in conflict, but it has happened on occasion."

Tom was amazed at all this new information that he'd never considered before. It rally was awesome to have someone who could really help him understand his ability, "So what else can we do with flames?"

"Oh, there are a lot of things. It's a great distraction tool on missions, like making something blow up and then entering a building from the opposite side or making smoke screen on command. I can also control incendiary based explosives. I can keep the heat away from me from other explosives, but not the concussive force. And if you get into a fight with someone there is just something about having your fists on fire that scares the crap out of them, making them pretty easy to take down."

Tom laughed out loud as he pictured some of the more famous villains cowering before his small frame as he threatened to punch them with his flaming fists. Catching his breath he asked yet another question, "So what next?"

Hawkeye pondered for a moment, "I'm thinking today we'll practice on the moving sensor, test out some flame balls and see if I can show you how to make a flame cage. Then you can practice those techniques on your own if I'm not around. The League keeps me pretty busy with covert solo ops so my schedule has to stay pretty fluid."

Tom smiled widely, "I can't wait to try to flying!"

"Oh we'll get there kid, I promise you that."

* * *


	8. A Kryptonian Punching Bags and Knives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chase and Penny get their individual training sessions. Chase gets the tandem of Superboy and Miss Martian while Penny's trainer is Magneta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter references a major character deviation from YJ cannon. he storyline stays the same, but the situation with Kaldur is quite different this time around. In Strange New World Kaldur was killed, but was brought back to life without the knowledge of the League. When he was found again, he was working for his father, but Nightwing managed to shatter his fake personality and bring out the real Kaldur, who volunteered to stay as a mole to gain info on the Light.

* * *

**Mount Justice – 8:25 a.m.**

After Nightwing had given her training assignment, Chase followed dutifully behind Superboy and Miss Martian. To Chase it seemed that the green-skinned girl was a little on edge, nearly jumpy, for some reason. As the two veterans walked well ahead of her, Chase listened to a brief snippet of their conversation.

"I just can't believe he's been alive all this time." Miss Martian said, shock plainly evident in her voice.

"Doesn't matter. What matters is that he's working with our enemies."

To Chase, it appeared that the Martian had wanted to reply to the Kryptonian's confident tone, but instead hung her head as though in shame for some unknown reason. For the next few minutes they all walked in silence to their destination. After arriving at a metallic door, Superboy input a security code, allowing the door to part. Stepping through the threshold Chase was taken aback by all the various objects and technology in the room. There were several free-standing walls, numerous robotic targets, and a slightly raised, rounded platform in the center of the room. To Chase, it almost looked like a fighter's ring.

Superboy looked neutral as he spoke, "Nightwing's file on you was sparse at best. M'gann," Superboy nodded in her direction as he continued, "will be starting with you on your density shifting."

Miss Martian motioned for Chase to follow her over to one of the free-standing walls. "This is a pretty standard cement wall. Why don't we start here? Just walk through it."

Chase focused on lowering her molecular density and became quite transparent. She then immediately walked right through the wall.

"Nice job!" For the first time since Chase had met the Martian there was an honest emotion playing across her green colored face. "Though when you're out in the field make sure that when you go through a wall that you do it slowly. It's quite helpful to just poke your face out part way to gather intel and then report back to you team once you're solid again. Rushing through a wall will usually get you spotted-no matter how transparent you are- unless you can become invisible."

M'gann and Chase then moved to the stool. On the stool was a slab of a far different material than the wall.

"This is one of the densest materials you'll probably come across in the field. Lead. I want you to try to stick your hand, and only your hand through the slab."

Chase realized that this was by far the trickiest thing she'd ever tried to work through. Taking a deep breath she slowly moved her hand toward the lead slab. While her hand was slowly entering the material, Chase was clearly straining to continue, her face becoming beet red as she had only gotten her hand three inches into the 8-inch piece of lead. With a gasp she was forced to withdraw her hand.

M'gann didn't look all that surprised, "It's alright. Lead is so dense that you'll really have to strain to get your molecules through the material. You'll get there with practice. Let's take a few minutes and then try again, OK?"

Chase nodded as she noticed Superboy coming over with a bottle of water. Grabbing it from his outstretched hand Chase gulped half of the liquid down before sitting down up against the wall behind her. As she caught her breath Chase stared at Superboy for moment, a thought crystallizing in her mind.

"So are you like Superman's kid or something? You look damn near identical."

Superboy leaned up against the wall to Chase's left, "More like brothers actually.

"Ah, guess that makes sense." Chase then turned her attention to Miss Martian, "So what made you come to Earth? Didn't think the Martians traveled all that frequently."

M'gann perked up slightly, "Martian Manhunter is my uncle." Though after talking about her uncle her face darkened, "I guess you could say I'm a lot different than the rest of my family, so I made the choice to leave."

Having gotten to know her trainers a little better Chase finished off her water, "Well I guess I'll take another crack at it." For the next hour Chase continued to attempt to shift through the lead, becoming more and more successful with each try. By 10:30 she was able to get nearly half of her arm through with considerably less effort than when she first started. Before M'gann had her shift her focus to Superboy for the rest of the morning she made sure that Chase would come back every day to work on her density shifting through the lead.

When M'gann left for some other part of the facility, Chase was then left with only Superboy in the room. The duo made their way to the center of the training room, where the fight ring was located.

"So far you've only made your density less, but I'm told you can do the opposite as well. I want you to become as dense as you can and then hit me with all you've got."

Chase looked confused, "Um, you want me to hit you? Isn't there some sensor or something that could just tell me how strong I am?"

Superboy looked as though he was about to laugh, but quickly became stone faced again, "If you were a regular human then that wouldn't be a problem, but considering I'm the strongest on Earth right now, I want you to hit me."

"Wait, you said you're the strongest on Earth right now. What about Superman and Wonder Woman?"

Superboy looked annoyed, "Just hit me already."

Chase breathed in deeply as she focused on making herself as dense as possible. With a mighty heave she threw a punch as hard as she could toward Superboy's midsection. Superboy wasn't quite prepared for the ferocity of the blow, which knocked the wind out of him and sent him backward by about 13 feet into the far wall, leaving cracks in the wall as the Kryptonian walked back to the ring.

"Nice hit, but let's see how quick you are when using it in hand-to-hand." Without any warning Superboy let loose a flurry of punches, most of which Chase was able to dodge thanks to her natural agility. After a few hooks Superboy was about to connect with Chase's stomach. Seeing the incoming blow Chase shifted her density as low as possible, letting Superboy's momentum carry him through her. Before Superboy could recover, Chase shifted up and got in a solid shot to Superboy's face as he was turning to re-engage her. As Superboy fell to the ground Chase was surprised when the ring lit up around Superboy's body and a computer voice rang out, "Fail."

Superboy righted himself, "Nice job rookie." Connor resisted the urge to add, "But I was taking it extremely easy on you." Instead, the demi-kryptonian had Chase move over to the row of target dummies.

"There are some targets that Batman built to help me train. They're not unlike some of the things that Superman uses to train as well. The most important thing that these will teach you is how to train yourself to use just enough strength to incapacitate your target as opposed to killing them outright."

Chase's eyes widened at Superboy last statement. She'd never really considered how much damage she could really do or how deadly her ability could be. Sure, she knew her dad used his ability in some not so nice ways, but Chase was determined to never fall into her father's line of work. With renewed determination for her training Chase readied herself as Superboy turned on the first training bot.

* * *

**Mount Justice – 8:25 a.m.**

Just as Chase and Tom had gone off to train ahead of her, so too did Penny. Penny's trainer was apparently a girl by the name of Magneta, who in reality wasn't that much older than Penny herself. It was pretty obvious by her codename that her specialty was magnetism, just like Penny. Magenta's hair was purple, and it looked completely natural. _I wonder if it has something to do with her powers,_ Penny though as the duo walked to their training spot. _I sure hope that doesn't happen to me!_ Penny had only found out about her powers during the group's escape from the Reach facility. She surely didn't want her natural blonde hair to turn purple!

As the two girls reached a door on the fourth level down Magneta's hands glowed purple. She quickly made a ripping motion and the doors parted. When they got into the room Penny was amazed at the assortment of objects strung about the room. There were random metal objects, a few baseball bats, a glass cabinet full of knives, and a rack of swords. Opposite to the all the objects were about a dozen stationary dummies against the wall that all had targets on them. Two of the dummies had guns mounted in their hands.

While the surroundings had already thrown Penny for a loop, considering she was two days removed from a head trauma, she was throttled when Magneta was completely surrounded by a purple aura and flew several feet off the ground before moving over the middle of the room.

Magneta noticed the deer in headlights look, "What? You can do it too." Magneta saw that Penny was still unbelieving, "We'll get to that, I promise. But first we've got some work to do."

Penny shook herself from her state of shock, "Uh, what exactly am I supposed to call you?" Penny's obvious Australian accent went ignored by the hero, who'd obviously seen so many crazy things that an unexpected accent didn't faze her.

"Kane. My real name is Frances, but I f-ing hate it, so just Kane will do. Back on point; I'm told you just recently discovered your powers?"

Penny nodded, confirming Magneta's suspicions before the purple-haired girl continued, "So for now we're just going to cover some basic manipulation. From the report I got it seems like you're already pretty good at it so this shouldn't be too difficult."

Penny felt a little more self-assured hearing someone compliment her abilities-not that she was ever really that down on herself to being with. As the daughter of a professional Australian surfer Penny was a paradoxical creature. While being a generally laid back individual, she also had a small, yet very potent, competitive streak, in addition to the high self-confidence necessary to consistently attempt to ride the monster waves of the world. As a demonstration, Kane levitated several knives from the cabinet and held them directly in front of her. Without moving her arms she sent the knives flying toward one of the dummies, each sinking deeply into the four limbs of the target dummy. Kane nodded to Penny who attempted to repeat the process. Given her general unfamiliarity with her ability, she was naturally a little unsure of herself. Unlike Kane who was able to move the knives without moving a muscle, Penny found she had to approximate the knives' moves by using her arms and hands. Despite this setback, the hero in training managed to sink the knives in the same locations on another target dummy.

Kane looked on with encouragement, "Not bad. Though having to use your arms will give away what you're doing if your opponent is paying attention. They'll eventually figure it out anyway, but any chance you can get to get the drop on someone should be taken." Penny took in every word, realizing she'd have to put in a lot of work to get up to Kane's level.

"Don't worry girl, we'll get you up to snuff and flying in no time at all."

* * *


	9. Two Girls, a Guy, and an Alien Spacecraft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Colton and Avery are assigned their own trainers.

* * *

**Mount Justice - 8:25 a.m.**

Sam had been the fourth to be called for a training assignment. To her delight she was assigned to the quite popular hero, Static. Static had made a big name for himself by being one of the few African-American heroes, but what truly set him apart was his easy-going nature with the media and the citizens he protected. Yet despite what Sam knew of Static's public nature it was still a shock to her when the hero began attempting to converse with her.

"So Sam, how long have you known about your powers?"

Sam had to look up slightly at Static, who was slightly taller than her 5'8" frame, "A couple years."

"Mind if I ask how you found out about them?"

Sam's eyes looked down at her feet as they walked. After recalling the traumatic events that led her to this point she answered Static, "I was on the run from my dad. He called the cops on me and I didn't want to go back." Sam never said what it was exactly that her dad had done to her, but Static had enough experience to piece things together. Sam paused for a moment before continuing her story, "Trying to get away from the cops I got chased near a military base. The fence around it was electrified, but I didn't see the signs. I started climbing and it just felt this burning sensation wherever I was touching the fence, but it just stopped all of sudden. The cops came up behind me with their guns drawn. I guess dear old dad told them I was armed or some bullshit like that. Seeing I was cornered I got down off the fence. It was dark, I freaked out when one of the cops got close and I thought he was going to hit me so I threw my hands up to defend myself. The next thing I know the cop is on the ground like he got tazered." Sam fell back into silence as the pair walked into the training room.

"Not a fun way to find out you've got powers." Static's words had a strong tone behind them, as though he had his own harrowing story to tell. "I used to run in a gang and we got caught up in a turf war back in Dakota City. There were about 60 guys, all armed to the teeth, meeting up to fight it out at an abandoned dock house. The cops got called out and threw in tear gas. Turns out the gas was actually an experimental gas meant to induce meta-gene changes in the human tissue. The cops didn't know it, but they basically turned 60 gang members into super-powered assholes. The people behind it tried to bring me in with the rest, but me and few of the rest made it out safely. The next morning I woke up with all the electronic stuff in my room stuck to me. And the rest is history."

The last part of the story caught Sam's attention, "They were stuck to you? Does that mean you've got magnetism too?"

Static thought for a moment, "Sort of." Seeing the quizzical expression on his charge's face he endeavored to explain, "My powers are electromagnetic in nature. The EM spectrum has two extremes, pure electricity and pure magnetism. My powers are one the electrical side of things, but I have some latent magnetic ability. Magenta, the girl training your friend Penny, has similar powers, but on the opposite ends of the spectrum. It's actually my magnetism that partially allows me to fly."

"So will I be able to fly too?" Sam's face didn't hide her eagerness at all.

"We'll see right now." Static pulled out several metallic objects from his overcoat, "I want you to focus on just one object and try to make it move towards you."

Sam's face contorted with concentration, but after several minutes hadn't made any one of the objects move so much as a millimeter. Frustration and defeat radiated off her, even though she didn't say a word.

Static, however, had plenty of words, "Hey, it's like it makes less powerful or anything. I mean, I'll never be able to punch through a skyscraper like Superman, or fly without a ship in space like the GLs, but I do the best with what I've got. You just need to focus on doing the same, OK?"

Sam nodded in agreement and her demeanor become much more relaxed than a few moments before, "So when do we get started?"

"How about right now?" Static motioned for Sam to follow him over to a jery-rigged setup of generators in the middle of the room, "What we've got here are several generators that, in conjunction with one another, will produce 75,000 volts of electricity. You said that you can absorb electricity so I figured a natural starting point would be to see how much you can actually hold. When you're as far as you think you can go you can release your energy here." Static pointed to bank of relays along the wall. "Those relays will hold and transfer the power gradually into the local power grids. Ready to give it a shot?"

Sam nodded and Static flipped the on switch for the first generator. As the generator whirred to life Sam pulled all the juice from the machine, leaving it a steaming hunk, useless forever. She nodded toward the second generator and repeated the process on it and the following four. Feeling slightly strained she had Static let the final generator loose, absorbing every last drop of wattage from it. Sam was visibly straining to hold in all that energy and moved over to the relays where she slowly let out the electricity for several minutes, until she was back down to where she started the morning.

"Wow!" Static was busy looking over some readouts form the relays, impressed with the girl's amount of absorption. Looking from the monitor to the smoldering generators dimmed his expression slightly, "Man, 'Wing's going to be all kinds of pissed that we blew out those generators right off the bat!"

"Sorry." Sam apologetically added.

"Don't be, I just didn't think you'd be able to absorb that much. And that's not even the amazing part. What's so cool is that your output was significantly higher than your input. You took in 75,000, but the output was well north of 100,000. Somehow, you don't just absorb the energy, you amplify it as well! This is going to make training you quite interesting!"

Sam was genuinely shocked at the news, having never considered how much energy she could actually store. As Static poured over the data he didn't notice Sam grabbing the gauze from her pocket and being wrapping her fingers. As she gingerly applied the first aid material she couldn't help but think, _This is going to be a long day._

* * *

While Sam was dealing with her power-related physical issues Colton was been put through his paces by Hal Jordon, the first Green Lantern of Earth. Whereas Hal's power came from a Green Lantern ringed powered by willpower, Colton's power came from the ability to control the light around him. Nightwing had noted his newfound ability to create a light wall during the breakout and as such had him training with a hero who could create constructs with a thought.

At first Hal had tried to get just how exactly Colton's ability worked by having the teen attempt to make some light-based constructs. Unfortunately, that only ended with Colton swearing violently in frustration and Hal left mulling over how to continue. As Hal thought over his plan of action for the rest of the morning Colton was left alone for several minutes, stewing in what he viewed was abject failure on his part to do what was asked of him. _I was able to lift Penny when we first got here, so why can't I do this?_ He held himself to a high standard, and given his quick temper, was beating himself up mentally. In anger he attempted to backhand the chair he had been using to rest earlier in the morning. Needless to say, Colton was deeply surprised when the can flew across the room and, with a loud clang, hit the opposite wall some 15 feet away. Colton froze, he was starting to figure out how his ability worked, but he wasn't quite there just yet.

The sound had shocked Hal as well, but confused him even more so than Cameron. _How did this kid's ability work?_ _Maybe I'm trying to wrong tack. Constructs don't seem to be his game._

"Hey kid, you said you could go invisible right?"

The 'kid' comment didn't sit too well with Colton considering that GL had called him that about eight times already, "My name isn't 'kid' dammit! It's Colton, get that through your head!"

Hal was a little taken aback, "Who, uh, sorry. Colton. Got it. So as I was saying, I was wrong thinking you could make constructs like I do with my ring. think I've got an idea about how exactly your ability works."

"Care to share?"

"Alright, I think you can literally bend light around you. That's why you can make yourself invisible and how you moved that can. It's like you created a force field and then pushed it. If you do it right, I think you can actually even make force fields around yourself. Which believe me, is damn handy in the field."

After Hal's explanation Colton felt his anger slip away, _Finally getting some answers!_ Though there was still the issue of training those different abilities, "So how exactly are we going to test all that?"

Hal, having regained his confidence, had a sly smile on his face, "Oh, I've got a few ideas."

* * *

While Colton and Sam were dealing with their respective training issues, Avery was having the time of her life. Nightwing had allowed her to, along with Robin, investigate the captured Reach craft. Considering Avery had already cracked the computer's encryption and had a working knowledge of the Reach language things were going quite swimmingly. As soon as Robin had led her to the vehicle bay the tech genius set right to work, attempting to restore main power for the ship. The girl was certainly in hog heaven. It wasn't everyday one got to tinker with alien tech, and with Avery's ability she was just itching to see what she would find under the hood, so to speak.

Thankfully, Avery thought, the third Boy Wonder had decided to really only watch and observe her actions. At first Avery was able to ignore his presence altogether as she worked, but throughout the morning the boy continued to make little remarks, usually whenever she was about to turn something else on, or try to reroute power through certain systems.

After about 20 minutes of Robin's annoying antics Avery rounded on him, "Alright, what the hell do you think you're doing? You think you know so much about how this ship works that you can tell me, the girl who literally flew it out of their base, how to do my job?!"

Robin didn't even hesitate in his response, "As a matter of fact, I do."

The boy's boldness was definitely not what Avery had been expecting, "How's that exactly?"

"Well for just under two weeks, I've been studying this baby. I kind of hit a snag with the computer. I'm a great hacker, don't get me wrong, but really I just need your help to get into their mainframe."

"And you didn't tell me this why?"

"Well, I was more of the mind to just have you help with the computer, but Nightwing wanted me to put it back like I found it to see how long it would take you to fix it. If it makes you feel any better it took about 90 minutes to do what took me four days."

"It doesn't help. Not one little bit. Now would you mind helping me getting this bird back together so we can get to work on that computer?" What she didn't' mention was that she simply wouldn't have thought this kid was actually that smart.

"Sure, all you had to was ask."

And so the two set out, following Robin's instructions for a couple hours before settling into the cockpit to take a crack at the computer. Robin hadn't been joking about his hacking prowess, but he couldn't have been more impressed with Avery's grasp of the technology and how quickly she worked to open up a whole host of information. For about an hour Robin had Avery explain to him the information in the computer. Suddenly, Avery stopped everything and stared blankly at the monitor.

Robin, always needing to know what was going on, was unsettled by this development, "So you find something interesting?"

Avery was brought back to reality by Robin's question, "Only if you count the shield codes for ever Reach ship currently on the planet and their deployments as interesting."

Robin' eyes flicked back to the screen despite his inability to read it, "We need to get Nightwing down here."

* * *


	10. The Triumvirate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The three eldest members begin their League training.

* * *

**Hall of Justice - 8:25 a.m.  
**

Maya and Dinah had been going at it for about an hour before Canary called a halt for a brief rest period. Black Canary had first wanted to test Maya's fighting prowess with a more hands-on approach. At first blush, Dinah thought Maya reminded her of a younger Cheshire, who Dinah still had a hard time calling Jade despite Roy best intentions. For Dinah, it was probably the girl's confident stance and black hair that helped her to make the connection to Cheshire rather than Artemis. The assumption actually proved highly accurate as soon as the two began fighting. It was quite clear that Maya had been heavily trained from a young age to be an assassin. Her agility surprised the elder heroine, even though Canary had plenty of experience fighting assassins. The girl had a finesse to her fighting that Canary had only ever seen a few times before, one of which was actually during her first encounter with Cheshire several years ago.

Every assassin fought a little differently. Some were fighters went into every engagement determined to use force and turn the tables physically. Others fought with the goal of making their opponent commit the first mistake in order to gain the upper hand. Maya definitely fell into the latter category, though she found herself having to pull out all the stops just to fight Black Canary to a draw. At first the duo had just been sparring, but somewhere after the first 30 minutes things escalated slowly until it reached an all-out fight for the last 15 minutes. Maya's olive toned skin was glistening with sweat and she was wondering how much longer she could keep this pace up. Sure, she'd been trained by some of the best the League of Shadows had to offer, but she had never fought someone this well trained, and it was taking its toll on her. When Canary signaled to take a break the ex-assassin had never been so glad to end a fight in her life.

Maya put her hands on her knees as she bent over to take a breath. Canary had gone over to grab some waters for the both of them when she noticed something peculiar on Maya's neck. Her long hair had parted across her neck and revealed part of a symbol that looked suspiciously like a burn mark. Its distinct pattern suggested something far worse than a simply burn.

After tossing Maya a bottle of water Dinah decided it would be a good time to better get to know the girl, but she couldn't help but be drawn to ask about the burn mark, "Mind if I ask about that mark on your neck?"

Maya's left hand quickly shot up to the back of her neck, "It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Dinah took a sip of water before continuing to lightly press for more information, "Certainly doesn't look like nothing. A few women I know have a similar mark on them."

Maya sensed that her trainer knew more than she was letting on. _No point in denying it then._ "It's a brand. Ra's symbol for my particular group of assassins was the lotus flower. The five of us were the only ones left alive when Ra's the Shadows invaded Nada Parat. We were the only children there. He 're-educated' us," Maya's face darkened and her green eyes were filled with sadness as she inwardly remembered the horrors that the shadows inflicted on her, "and had us trained to join their ranks. The three of us who lived through it were given these brands as a 'graduation' gift from our master." Maya fell back into silence, preferring to keep the rest of the story to herself.

Canary, having been the team's psychologist for past few years, knew there was more to share, but wanted to take things slowly, "So how did you wind up in the Reach ship?"

Maya leaned back against the wall. "While I was sent on a mission I tried to fake my own death to escape. I thought I succeed and a year later wound up in Istanbul. I made the mistake of letting my guard down, thinking that I had lost my pursuers. I should have known that no one ever really outruns Ra's Al Ghul. When they caught me I was given to some Reach scientists for study on human tissue. That was about 5 weeks before the escape."

"Care to talk about what they did?"

"No. whatever they were trying to do it apparently didn't work." Maya spoke with such finality that Dinah knew it was pointless to continue along that line of questioning.

"True. From what we've discovered in the past few years the human meta-gene is remarkably hard to pin down. The odds of actually activating it in a dormant human are astronomical."

"But I guess with 7 billion people on the plant the aliens thought they'd try their luck."

Canary nodded, seeing the logic in Maya's response, though the conversation had taken a turn away from what Dinah wanted to get at. The elder heroine switched tacks to the escape itself, "So teamwork isn't exactly in an assassin's wheelhouse. What made you work with the others when you could have just tried to get out by yourself?"

"I was going to, until Avery cracked the computer and found a map." Maya took another swig of water and continued, "I'm starting to see the value of teamwork, no thanks to those 'team building' exercises you've forced on us the last two weeks."

The disdain in Maya's voice signaled Canary that the conversation was finished. Still, it had helped to pass the time as they rested.

Turnings things back to the training Canary headed toward the middle of the floor and addressed Maya, "So, you are a skilled fighter, no doubt at that. But there are definitely some things I could teach you if you're willing to listen."

If anyone else had told Maya that the ex-assassin would have simply brushed them off without at thought, but that wasn't the case this time. Maya pushed herself from the wall and back toward the center of the training room where Black Canary was waiting. _This definitely could have gone a lot worse._

* * *

**8:25 a.m.**

Oliver Queen, Dinah's husband, was currently putting his latest charge through his paces on the archery course. The young man definitely had not been kidding about his level of experience. His stance was damn near perfect and technique had only one or two minor flaws to correct. He wasn't quite at Roy's or Artemis's level, but he had definitely used a bow extensively.

As Jim placed his fourth arrow in the dead center of the target Green Arrow grew even more impressed. "So how exactly did you learn to shoot like that?"

Jim notched another arrow and let it fly, "My dad got me into bow hunting as a kid. That evolved into me being on the archery team at school. We won four straight state titles. I was such a good shot that my dad wanted me to train for the Olympic archery team, but I was more interested in joining the Army. After I finished basic and weapons training some guy from Langley showed up, asking me to basically join the CIA. Cut to 1 and a half years later and I was on my first probationary mission as a junior field agent when I got grabbed."

The CIA and Army bits of Jim's past were news to Green Arrow, who hadn't fully read Nightwing's file on the man, "Shouldn't you let them know you're alive?"

Jim took another arrow out of his quiver, "I put out some feelers through a contact I have at Langley. They've disavowed me, probably thinking I'm either dead or at the very least compromised and have a warrant for my arrest. My dad's house is being watched 24/7, but I was able to get a message slipped to him letting him know I'm safe. He's former Spec Ops, so I'm pretty sure he'll understand the reason for the radio silence on my end."

Green Arrow pondered the 20-year-old's response, "So you've just jumped on the hero train, no questions asked?"

"Not exactly. I believe in doing the right thing no matter the cost. The way I see it I've got three options. Either I walk away and go into hiding, go back to the CIA to be indefinitely held, or I help you and the League stop the end of the world. I chose the latter of those three options."

Oliver watched as Jim buried yet another bulls-eye, "Not a bad attitude to have I guess. You think you want work with any heroes in particular?"

Letting another arrow fly, Jim lowered his bow, thinking about the question. "Honestly, I probably just want to stick with the others."

"Speaking of the others, how are you all getting along? Any transition issues?"

"Chase is probably having the hardest time, she isn't sleeping for more than an hour or two at a time. Frankly I'm surprised she sleeps at all."

"Why's that?"

"I know that out of all of us, she was held the longest. God knows what they did to her for those fourth months, but I can't bet it wasn't Geneva Convention friendly."

"I don't doubt it. She getting any counseling?"

"Yeah, Black Canary's been here every day. Not sure how well it's working though."

"So how 'bout the rest of the group?"

"None of the others have any serious issues to speak of. Tom, Colten, and Penny all got a hold of their families and have adjusted just fine, thanks to everything you guys have done for us. The rest, including me, either can't get a hold of our loved ones or there aren't any to contact."

"Think you guys will be able to work together in the future?"

Jim's answer came quickly with military like precision, "I think so, I mean escaping from an alien research facility is pretty much a surefire way to help people bond under fire. Sam and Penny are pretty close already. Colton's hanging out a lot with Avery, and Tom's pretty much the little brother to everyone. Maya's still a little cold and detached for my taste. She's kind of a wild card from a personnel standpoint, especially when Cameron's involved. Sometimes she acts almost normal around him, but other times they just fight like a cat and a dog."

GA started laughing at Jim's assessment. Jim just looked as his trainer with confusion. Catching his breath GA stood up, "Sorry, it's just that your explanation reminded me of my old protégé and her boyfriend." The memory of Artemis quickly brought up the grief surrounding her death, effectively ending that line of conversation, but Oliver was a professional and endeavored to get things back on track. Thinking for a moment about what to do next, seeing as his trainee was proving to be an exceptional student, he settled on a useful way to procede, "How about some HORSE?"

"HORSE, sir? I don't see a basketball court anywhere in here. How exactly do we do that with a bow and arrow?"

"It's just like basketball, we just do any trick shot we can think of and try to hit the bulls-eye. Second shooter has to follow the first shooter's motions. Tie goes to the primary shooter, loser gets a letter. First to H-O-R-S-E loses. We'll flip for who starts."

Oliver pulled out a quarter, "Call it in the air."

"Heads." As the coin hit the ground Jim smiled widely upon seeing which side landed face up, _This is going to be fun._

* * *

**8:25 a.m.  
**

Roy Harper, otherwise known as Red Arrow, was the final trainer that Nightwing had called in to help handle the newcomers that they'd picked up from the incursion to the Reach base two weeks ago. If anyone looked at the League's roster of heroes with experience with firearms they would find that Roy Harper was hands down the most knowledgeable on the subject. That made him a given to train a hero who's main weapon of choice was a gun. In preparation for his training session with Cameron, Roy had reviewed the footage from the boy's trips to the shooting range the past nine days. What he saw deeply impressed him. The kid could probably give Deadshot a run for his money, which was truly saying something. The only question was how his ability would be used in the field.

It was a question Roy endeavored to answer from the moment the two met. On their way to the range Roy struck a conversation with the younger man, "So remind me exactly how you're ability works."

Cameron stepped through the metal doors to the range and immediately headed over to the gun rack. Loading a 9mm he popped in the clip and turned back to Roy, "It's basically like this: I see my environment and get eyes on my target and I take him down."

Without looking down the range, Cameron popped a shot in the ceiling, causing Roy to nearly have a heart attack. Cameron just stared at Roy the whole time while the archer recalled the target from the end of the gun range. It took several seconds for the target to make its way to the shooter's position. Roy was astounded when he saw that the target had a 9mm hole in the dead center of its chest.

"How the hell did you hit that?" Roy asked incredulously.

"I got a look at the set up when we walked in the room. My brain takes in the data from the environment and it's like I can see how my actions will affect the environment before I do it. So I knew that if I shot at that point it would ricochet perfectly into the target. Cool, right?"

"Cool doesn't even cover it. But it does bring up a few problems." Roy was still staring at the target.

"Like what?" Cameron was already busy loading up another target for practice.

"For starters, I want to know why you're using a paper target. We've to the best stuff and you're using paper?

Cameron chuckled as he sent the target on its way, "That's your first question?"

"Just humor me, I'd like to get to know what makes you tick first."

"Alright. My dad trained me on this kind of stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, your holograms and simulation programs are fantastic, but there is just something nice about just kicking it old school, you know?"

"So when did you first figure out what you could do?"

Cameron pulled back the slide on the pistol to chamber a round, "It started when I was pitching during 8th grade. I was always a good athlete and my school baseball team sucked so I got to play some games on varsity as an 8th grader. I don't know how to describe that first time, but it was like the whole world was going in slow motion and I was still moving normal speed. After I pitched that first perfect game my dad had me throw a few days later and I couldn't find that zone."

"Why not?"

"Well, I think I was trying too hard. Apparently my hyper-kinesis can be very temperamental, especially when my emotions are involved. I got called on to pitch again about a week later and it happened again. I think that's when my dad knew that something was going on."

"What did he do?"

"He was a military guy used to dealing with people with powers, but he also knew that he had to keep what I could do under wraps."

"Why's that?"

Cameron finished his clip and ejected it, "Would you stop with the questions and let me talk?" Roy didn't respond, allowing Cameron to continue, "Anyway, he told me once that if the wrong people in the military found out that they'd take me away. Don't get me wrong, my dad loved the military and what America stands for, but he knew that sometimes people can't always be trusted. He talked about some guy named Captain Adams, but now that I know my dad was a friend of Captain Atom I can see why he felt that way about keeping my ability secret.

Roy got a quizzical look in his eye and Cameron didn't fail to notice even though red-headed archer didn't make a sound, "Captain Nathan Adams was convicted of murder by a military tribunal and sentenced to die by firing squad during the 1st Gulf War. My dad told me that the military forced him to 'choose' to take part in a secret experiment that would kill him. My dad only told me that it didn't kill him, only made him stronger. It wasn't until after he survived the experiment and changed that he found out he was framed, which of course made him leave the military altogether."

"How could you possible know all that?"

"A combination of what my dad told me, my own guesswork at small details, and what the Captain told me himself about a week ago when we visited my dad's grave in Arlington together."

Roy was once again dumbfounded; having had no real clue that Captain Atom was up to that point. _Maybe I should actually pay more attention at the meetings._

"Alright, that's enough of a history lesson for now. Let's get back to the issue at hand. Why guns? You could use any projectile weapon out there; throwing knives, arrows, sais, you name it, but you went with guns. Why?"

Cameron set down the 9mm on the loading bench and pulled a .243 rifle off the wall rack. He pulled the bolt back to pop in a round before answering the question. "Mostly it's because it just feel natural to use guns. I was trained on them from the time we first found out about my ability. Answer me this, in all the times you guys have been going on missions how often have you found that a good sniper would have been able to cover your infiltrations and exfils?"

"I'll give you that one, but that still doesn't take away from the fact that guns kill people."

Cameron had a rebuttal ready and waiting, "Actually, arrows do too. And before you tell me that it's not the same thing let me stop you. It's all about how you use your weapon, not the weapon itself. And besides, aren't we facing an impending alien invasion? I don't think my choice of weapon is really that big an issue." Cameron put the gun down on the table and extended the bipod legs so he could shoot standing up. "I can hit a guy in his right shoulder and put him on the ground, but if I'm using impact rounds as opposed to rounds meant to cause maximum damage then the guy is going to live. There are a lot of parts on the human body that I can hit with a rubber or regular bullet that won't result in loss of life."

Red Arrow was impressed by the younger man's answer, "Sounds like you thought this one through."

"I had to. My dad knew I was going to go out on my own, but he wanted me to do it the right way."

"Why'd you want to do it in the first place?"

Cameron's face hardened as his sighted his shot. "Because my dad died defending his country, believing that the fight was worth it." Cameron squeezed the trigger, sending the round down range before he pulled the bolt back, getting it ready to accept another round. "I'm going to honor his sacrifice by using my ability the best way I can."

Roy took in the boy's response. Clearly his father's death was a sore subject, "Fair enough, but let's talk logistics here. Nightwing is probably going to have you nine stay together, sound good to you?"

"Sure."

"Seeing as how you're one of the older, and generally more mature members of the group, who do you think should be in charge of your team?"

"Probably Jim. I wouldn't mind doing it myself, but Jim's got a lot more experience than me.

Cameron loaded another round as Roy continued the questions, "What's your opinion of the rest of the group? You think they'll be able to handle field work?"

"I do. We all were pretty much able to keep our heads when we broke out."

As Cameron began exhaling in preparation for the shot Roy took the opportunity for one final question. _Time to see if Nighwing's right about him and the assassin._ "And what about Maya?"

Cameron jerked at the name, sending his shot high. He attempted to recover by acting as if nothing happened. "What about her?"

_Well I'll be damned, Dick was right._

When Roy didn't answer Cameron grew slightly frustrated, "Are we just going to talk about everyone else are you going to actually show me something today?"

Roy just smiled. "Don't get your panties in a bunch. There's still plenty of morning left."

* * *


	11. Codenames at Lunch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom decides that everyone on the team needs a codename. He takes it upon himself to give them a few ideas.

* * *

**April 15 -12:47 p.m.**

"Static was way cooler than on TV!" Sam was quite excited to tell everyone about her experience when the team met up for lunch following their individual training sessions.

Not letting silence hang in the air Tom quickly jumped to share his morning activities as well. "Yeah, Hawkeye was awesome! He told me that I might be able to use my flames to actually fly!" Tom was talking quite fast, not taking a breath as he continued, "And then Ice showed up and helped me work on my ice ability!"

"Superboy and Miss Martian were just plain awkward." Chase, while grateful for the time to train, had not been all that impressed by her trainers. "It was like they were silently arguing about something the whole morning, not cool at all."

"The Green Lantern I was with was a little bit of a dick to start the morning, but it got better as we went along." Colton began hungrily wolfing down his turkey sandwich.

"Magneta was just a pretty weird person all around." Penny took her turn to fill in her cohorts. "But not in a bad way. I got to throw some knives at some targets and I got it on the first try, but she said it would be a lot harder to do when we're actually fighting somebody."

"What about you Avery?" Sam had taken it upon herself to be the team's all-around chatterbox and was not content to have Avery sit in silence for the whole lunch break.

"Robin was an annoying little troll, though he did have some useful insights about the alien tech. We were able to find some information that Nightwing should be able to use. He also brought up the issue of picking out code names."

"Code names?" Tom was quite intrigued by getting to pick out a codename for being a hero.

"He said, and I quote, 'If you don't pick out your own Nightwing will pick it for you. And you don't want that.'"

"I want to be Nitro!" Tom shocked everyone around him as he raised hands, one with flames and the other in ice form.

In his youthful exuberance Tom began rattling off his ideas for the rest of the group. "Colton should be Shade. Chase, you can be Shift. Penny, you're Polaris. Sam, how about Volt? Does Forge work for you Avery?"

Following Tom's string of code names the group around him mulled over their options.

Sam was the first to offer an alternative, "I've always wanted to use Tric. You know, short for electricity?" Thinking that Sam had just shot his idea down Tom looked a little miffed, Sam thankfully didn't miss it. "But Volt could work too! I'll have to do some thinking, ok?"

Lifting her fork and twirling it in front of her Penny thought over her codename, "Polaris…I like it!"

"Shade's cool, I guess, seeing as how I can turn invisible."

"Forge is fine with me, kid."

"I don't know about Shift. It's not bad, just that it doesn't exactly click for me. I'll think about it."

At that moment Cameron, James, and Maya walked into the kitchen. They'd had the longest training sessions and had all just finished up.

Tom perked up at the arrival of the other three. "You guys want code names too? I've got some good ones!"

Cameron looked at Jim and Maya, seeing who would answer first. When neither responded he addressed the youngest member of the team, "Sure, couldn't hurt I guess."

"Awesome!" Tom turned to Maya first. "I'm thinking Renegade works for you, because you're this bad ass ninja chick!" Maya actually cracked a smile before the boy turned his attention to Jim, "Since you're working with Green Arrow you should have Arrow somewhere in your name. You seem to like black clothes so how about Black Arrow?" Jim ran it through his head and nodded. Tom turned back to Cameron for the last option. "I've got a lot of idea for you. Flex, short for reflex. Bullet, since you like guns or Bulls-eye because you're a good shot. What do you think?"

"Those are certainly some good ideas, Tom. I've always liked Bolt, but I'll definitely give your options a look." Cameron ruffled Tom's hair as he made his way to the refrigerator to see what the League had for food options.

* * *


	12. Guns, Lots of Guns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team arms themselves for the coming training session.

* * *

**Hall of Justice**  
12:55 p.m.  


While the team used their lunch break to actually eat, Nigthwing spent his noon hour pouring over the data retrieved from the Reach craft. After running it through the League's translation software Nightwing was amazed at the level of information about the alien's plans. He was so engrossed in the computer that he didn't notice Dinah Lance enter the room.

"Seems some things never change, Dick, not even you and your computer habits."

Dick turned to his old trainer, though that label hardly did their relationship justice. Black Canary was practically Dick's aunt.

"Sorry, Dinah. Got a little caught up in what Tim and Avery pulled from the Reach craft."

"No need to explain, this whole impending invasion has got us all plenty worried. It's actually what I came to talk about."

"What about it?"

"It's about this new team you're putting together."

"Ah, I wondered when someone would tell me it's a stupid idea."

Dinah shook her head, "It's not a stupid idea. Those kids have a lot of potential."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming."

"But we don't have the time to get them ready for this." Canary's voice wavered, betraying her fear of putting the kids in harm's way before they were ready.

"I understand where you're coming from Canary. We've already lost too many in the past few years. Jason, Tula, Artemis, Ted Kord, but a lot more are going to die if we don't stop this invasion."

"These kids don't need to be the ones doing the fighting, Dick."

"Canary, we're already down 9 of the most powerful League members. We're going to need everyone if we want to stand a chance of coming out on top."

"I still don't get why we don't go public with is information"

"Because the public already distrusts because of the whole Krolotean fiasco and the destruction of Mount Justice only made things worse. Coming out with this data would only make us out to be warmongers. On top of that, the only two or three people that the world would actually believe are currently standing trial!"

Canary sighed, disgusted with the League's catch-22 position, "I can see I won't be winning this one. I take this intel changes your plans, which brings up a question. Are you still going to be training the new team this afternoon or should I take over for the day?"

"You take it; I should get back to this."

Canary turned to leave, but as she approached the door she remembered a conversation she and Dick had many years ago, "Don't bury yourself in here Dick, it's a very Bruce-like thing to do, don't you think?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll see the team before the day's done to see how they're doing." Dick waved goodbye to Dinah and dove back into his work. Yet the Bruce comment from Canary was eating at him. _If only she knew how much like him I've been acting._

* * *

**League Training Room  
1:45 p.m.**

After the team's lunch and conversation about codenames they all made their way to the main training room as they'd been instructed earlier in the day. But instead of Nightwing greeting them, it was Black Canary introducing herself as the team's trainer for the remainder of the day.

"Alright team; I'll be your trainer today. What I've got planned is a little different than what Nightwing was going to have you do. What you'll be doing is training in our holographic simulator. But first, I'll need to call you all something besides 'team'. Nightwing has given this team a designation: Sigma Squad. Any objections?"

Everyone looked at each other for a moment. Without hearing any objections Canary continued addressing the team, "First, you will select your weapons in the armory program, then place them on the center table. Your selections will be saved and fabricated in the time it will take you to actually begin the simulation. The exit door will remain visible throughout the armory simulation, but will disappear during the training exercise. After you make your choices I want you to leave and get suited up in the locker room. When you all reenter the room we'll have you weapons and tools ready for use. There will be three targets to eliminate during the session; any other instruction will be given over your earpieces when you're ready to roll. This is a trial by fire, so I'm throwing you to the wolves. See you when this is all done."

Canary left as quickly as she entered; leaving the newly formed team to look around in confusion as to what they were supposed to do next. Whatever it was they were thinking they weren't expecting the room to dissolve around them, leaving only a white room with dozens of weapons racks surrounding a plain red table in the center of the room.

"Wow, this like something straight out of the Matrix!" Tom was easily the most excited out of the group, though they were all suitably impressed and shocked as well.

"You're not wrong Tom." Canary's voice rang out through some hidden speaker. "I think Nightwing had that exact movie in mind when he designed this particular program. Like I said, choose your weapons and put them on the table. They'll be made available when you come back. You should find something to your liking considering your preferences have been included in the program. Oh, and the door should now be visible."

Sure enough, the door materialized, its silver tone clashing with the white of the surrounding environment.

"Well, as cool as this all is, I don't need a weapon." Colton looked around at his teammates and with a curt nod walked out of the training room.

"Yeah, I got to go get my uniform on!" Tom ran out of the room after Colton.

The rest of the team watched as Chase also followed suit, albeit silently. Sam simply grabbed a small pouch labeled "First Aid" and left as well. After a few seconds of hesitation each of the remaining members went their separate ways, a muted excitement permeating the team as they dug through the various options available to them.

Maya was itching for some actual action after the two weeks of training and she quickly found her weapons of choice. Her assassin training had made her adept at the use of many different weapons types. She chose a short katana that would strap to her back from the left shoulder down to her right kidney. She also selected a chest harness that held 10 throwing knives that she would wear over her uniform. A five-inch combat knife with a thigh holster also went into her weapons pile. Finally, she picked up a collapsible bo staff which would hang from her left hip. Satisfied with her choices, the assassin left for the locker room to change.

Jim found an area he suspected was designed for his use by Green Arrow himself. There was a bow that was an exact replica of the hero's, only it was black instead of green. Next to the bow was a quiver, also black, and large selection of trick and specialty arrows. The team's archer began assembling his arsenal while his teammates made their own selections.

Avery was clearly the most excited out of the team, which was certainly something after Tom's reaction. For the tech wizard, being in a hologram was like giving a dog a bone, but on steroids. While she really wanted to see the weapons fabrication, she was content to experience this mind-blowing example of the League's technology. Truthfully, she hadn't expected to find anything of use, but she marveled at the attention to detail in each piece. While she had been thinking of how things would work in a simulated combat situation she saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks. Sitting on a table by itself was something that was quite literally straight out of her sketchbook.

During her meetings with Robin to discuss tech related issues Avery inadvertently let it slip that she had a growing collection of weapon and tool designs. Needless to say, the Boy Wonder had incessantly pestered her to let him take a look. Avery didn't think that when she lent him the sketchbook for a few days that he would actually have entered them into the armory program she was currently in. Somehow the Gotham hero had been able to virtually construct not only her utility belt, but also her custom enemy suppression device which she affectionately called "The Subduer". Attached to the belt was a virtual note that read:

_The Subduer was as a pain to build as it was fun testing. It should work flawlessly, enjoy! – Your Friendly, Neighborhood Robin._

Avery chuckled at the Spider-Man film reference and brought her selections to the loading table before exiting the program.

Penny quickly found her choice of tool from the program: a pair of wrist bracers. The black material had openings for her fingers and thumbs, but was solid from that point up to her mid forearm. The bracers had a purple outline on the edges, but they were far more than a fashion choice. Each had a dozen or so metallic barbs attached to them on the exterior and Penny could easily imagine how she could manipulate the metal in the material once the bracers had been fabricated.

Cameron took the longest of the team to find the perfect selection of items. His first item was a tactical Kevlar vest. He'd taken the time to fit it with three each of flash and smoke grenades in addition to two hornet's nest crowd suppression grenades that utilized rubber pellets. His primary weapon was actually a pair of Colt .45 pistols, similar to the ones he had trained with in the past. He also packed several spare clips of ammunition, both lethal and non-lethal varieties. There was one type of ammo he was itching to try out, but doubted their first training session would require its use. Lastly, he added the same serrated combat knife that Jim had chosen before heading out the door to the locker room.

* * *

In the viewing room Canary watched the feeds as each of her pupils selected their weapons for the session. While most made predictable choice, there was one or two selections that raised her eyebrow. She was pondering their potential advantages when her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of several Leagues and members of the covert team. It seemed that the training of the new team was certainly interesting. Dinah nodded to the group of heroes, which included the individual trainers of the newly dubbed Sigma Squad, before turning back to the screens.

Green Arrow walked up to stand beside his wife. "So how well do you think this is going to go?"

"Hard to say, Ollie. They're pretty raw for the most part, but there's just something about them that makes me think Nightwing might not be completely insane for making them a team."

"What do you mean by that?"

"For starters, the really raw members know they're fresh meat and aren't acting too cocky compared to some of the others I've trained over the years. Plus, their little trio, well more so Cameron and Jim, has already accepted that they're going to need to help the others out. But it's more than that. Going through what they did in that facility was amazing. They came out of there as a team."

"Then I guess now's the time to see how far they've come."

"Oliver, I couldn't have said it better myself."

* * *


	13. Suit Up!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team fully suits up for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I couldn't call a chapter 'Suit Up!' without including Barney Stinson's famous phrase. Hope you all like it!

* * *

**Boy's Locker Room - 2:20 p.m.  
**

Gearing up for the coming training session had both locker rooms buzzing with anticipation. It would have been obvious to an outside observer that the teens were full of nervous energy, yet the rooms were both for the most part silent. Each member of Sigma Squad went about suiting up in different ways. Some raced into the room to don their attire. Others were slow and methodical; making sure everything was properly placed before declaring themselves ready to fight.

Tom definitely fell into the former category. While Colton was the first to leave the armory program Tom had raced into the locker room ahead of him, eager to try on his uniform. For the last two weeks Tom had been planning out different ideas for a uniform, mainly with help from the similarly aged Bart. While a lot of the teen heroes were often confused by Bart's antics, Tom never had that issue. In fact, the two were becoming fast friends. This was probably why Tom's uniform was heavily inspired by the speedster. Tom had chosen a skin suit, but instead of Impulse's color scheme the young hero had chosen to replace the white with a deep blue, but elected to keep the red, including the boots. He felt that the dual colors reflected his own dual abilities. In addition to the uniform, Tom chose a goggle-like mask to hide his facial features. After all, the teen had a secret identity to protect. Tom was admiring his reflection when Colton's assessment drew his attention.

"Well, you certainly look the part." Colton had followed the youngest member of the team into the locker room and was only beginning to suit up when Tom had finished.

"You think so?" Tom was clearly a little nervous, despite his exuberance.

"I do. You know what they say: 'Look sharp, play sharp.'"

"Thanks Colton. If you don't mind my asking, what is your uniform?"

Colton pulled off his red t-shirt and pulled out a grey sleeveless workout t-shirt from the locker. After slipping it over his head he addressed his younger teammate, "Mine's not much of a uniform. Mostly, I just want something comfortable. Maybe I'll get something a little more "hero-ey" in the future, but for now I just don't feel the need."

"That's cool. I just don't want to be the only one actually wearing a uniform."

"Don't worry, I doubt you will be."

* * *

**Girl's Locker Room -2:20 p.m.  
**

Colton's proclamation proved to be accurate, though he couldn't have known that just yet. Chase was just putting the finishing touches on her uniform as the other girls entered. She had been heavily inspired by Nightwing's costume. She had kept his black armor, but lost the blue Nightwing symbol on the middle. To replace it she added two red stripes that started at each shoulder and came to the center of her chest before continuing down the torso where they stopped at her black carbon fiber utility belt. The legs of the armor continued the red stripes, but this time they were on the outside of the legs starting at the hip and ending at the top of her black combat boots. The team's heavy hitter had also added an assassin's hood; much like the one Maya had mentioned some her former allies had worn. For a mask she chose a black domino mask, but with red eyes instead of the usual white that most heroes wore.

"Chase, that looks awesome!" Sam took the time to comment on how she felt her teammate looked.

Chase smiled slightly at Sam's praise, only had a few words in return. "You suiting up?"

"Nah, uniforms aren't really my thing. The only thing I need is a color scheme." Sam waved a gloved hand over her body to draw attention to the navy top and black pants that she wore. "Got to love the black and blue. Plus, I wear these fingerless gloves. Well, that and my little first aid kit."

Chase was confused for a second before Sam's explanation of her powers came back to her, "Oh that's right. You're powers make your fingers bleed. Sorry, I forgot."

"Don't sweat it." Sam unzipped the kit, making sure the contents were all in place before zipping it back up. "I got used to it a long time ago."

"What'd you get used to Tric?" Penny was next into the locker room, calling her friend by her chosen codename.

Chase was a little thrown by the name, "Uh, Tric?"

"Oh, it's my codename. You know, short for electricity?"

Realization dawned on Chase, "Oh, I get. What's your's Penny?"

"I'm going with Polaris. Tom certainly does have good ideas."

"True that. I'm using Shade."

"I thought that was Colton's."

"Yeah, we talked about it and he's going with Shadow. I mean, the guy can turn invisible."

Both Sam and Penny mulled over the codenames for the teammates and found nothing to disagree with. Penny began pulling out the pieces to her uniform. She, like Chase, was using a black armor for her base. However, unlike her friend, Penny's second color of choice was purple. In fact, her domino mask was a metallic purple. She had a purple pattern similar to Chase's on the armor itself, but added a purple cape as well that came down to the small of her back.

"A cape?" Sam and Penny had talked about costumes for hours, but she had thought that Penny wasn't going to use the cape.

"I wasn't going to use it, but I had one made just in case. Tom's idea had me thinking of an old X-Men character who had powers like mine and since I'm working on flying I kind of wanted to use the cape."

Chase nodded, "I can see it. Wouldn't have gone with that myself, but I can see why you'd pick it. Besides, at least it isn't some weird color. Purple and black can go well together."

"Yeah, surprisingly it looks pretty good." Even Sam had to admit that she was perhaps wrong about how the finished product would look. She had thought capes were stupid, but Penny's design was quickly changing her mind.

Avery walked in to find the girls admiring Penny's costume. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she walked quietly over to her locker. She grabbed her boots from her locker and pulled on some thin work gloves as well. On the hangar in the locker Avery found her jacket. She was already wearing a black under armor long sleeve shirt, but the blue jacket held many gadgets she'd made in her two weeks at the Hall of Justice. Their uses ranged from holographic decoys to communication devices for the team. Making sure the jacket was snug she shut her locker, the noise finally drawing the attention of her teammates.

"Oh, hey Avery! Didn't see you come in!" Sam was the first to greet the team's tech expert.

"That was kind of my plan, actually. Drawing attention isn't really my style."

"Well you could have at least said, 'Hi.'."

Avery was silent for a moment, realizing that while Sam might be a bit annoying, she did have a point. "Fine, next time."

Before Sam could offer a reply, Mata walked through the door and headed swiftly toward the locker with her name on it. The girls were about to ask her about her codename, but fell silent when Maya removed her shirt, leaving her standing in front of her locker in a sports bra. Sam gasped as she noted the long thing scars in the center of Maya's back. They were barely visible under her long black hair, but as Maya moved around to put on her uniform the girls got a clear view of the old wounds.

Maya did not fail to notice the stares. "Yes, they are scars. And no, I don't want to tell you anything about them." Maya moved her old clothes into the locker and began putting on her black bodysuit as the locker was painfully silent.

Sam, never one to relish silence, wanted to lighten the mood. "So Maya, what's your codename?"

Maya finished fastening her suit. "I do not wish to use one."

"But you have to! It's like Heroing 101!"

"You're not going to be quite until I pick one, are you?"

Sam smiled devilishly. "Nope." Maya sighed as Sam laughed. "See, we're getting to know each other already!"

"Fine. If you'll force me to pick one, you can call me 'Renegade'."

"Oh, that's a good one!"

Avery decided to interject herself in to the conversation. "It certainly seems that black is our team's color of choice."

The girls looked around at each other and found that Avery was indeed correct. In addition to Chase's and Penny's costumes, Maya's body suit was a more form-fitting, less padded version, but with grey as the secondary color. The padding, Maya believed, would throw off her natural balance. Maya stretched in the costume, throwing her arms behind her back to loosen them.

"One thing's for sure, Cameron's going to love your outfit Maya." Sam gave a fiendish grin

Maya, thanks to her training, was able to stop herself from blushing and played dumb. "Why would say that?"

Penny smiled knowingly, "Oh, I think you know exactly what we're talking about Maya. That boy's got a bit of a thing for you."

Maya remained silent after Penny spoke. She had never have any problems lying before, but something about these people made her want to tell the truth. But at the same time she didn't want to verbally acknowledge that not only was she aware of Cameron's interest in her, but that that she was attracted to him as well.

"Can we just we head back to the training room now?"

* * *

**Boy's Locker Room - 2:27 p.m.  
**

Cameron and Jim were the last two of the men to leave the armory program. They had spent by far the most time assembling their arsenal of weaponry, with Jim helping Cameron choose a wide variety of tools for the training session. In the past two weeks the two had become close. Cam looked up Jim for his experience while Jim admired Cam for his ability to connect with the rest of the team. It didn't hurt that two got along well and spent exorbitant amounts of time at the League's archery and gun ranges.

"So Jim, you were saying GA gave you a codename?"

"Yeah, not sure if I like it though. I mean Black Arrow isn't awful or anything, but it doesn't feel natural, you know?"

"I hear you there man. How 'bout this? Instead of the full name we just shorten it to Arrow?"

Jim paused as he closed the first of the locker rooms double doors behind him. "Not bad, Cam. Not bad at all."

Cam smiled widely. "See, that's what teammates are for my good man!" With mock seriousness Cam opened the second door and motioned for Jim to enter. "Ladies first."

Jim smirked, not offended by his friends remark. "Speaking of ladies, you gonna say something to Maya today?"

Cam froze, but quickly recovered, "What makes you ask?"

Colton let out an exasperated sigh, "Dude, we've all seen you two stare at each other when you think no one is looking. And your bickering is getting annoying. And that's saying something from me because sarcasm is kind of my jam."

Cameron just feigned ignorance, "No idea what you guys are talking about." The furiously blushing boy tried as calmly as he could to lace up his light tan boots. They'd been a given to him by Nightwing, though he suspected Superboy had a hand in picking them out. Other than the boots, Cameron was wearing his civilian clothes as he'd be donning the weapons vest when it was fabricated.

Jim laughed, "Sure. I totally buy that, but I don't want you showboating to _impress_ the girl you are _not_ attracted to." Jim quickly changed into a version of Red Arrow's costume. Where the red on Roy's uniform normally was Jim had substituted a dark grey. Yet that was all the originality that Jim put into the costume. He chose the grey as he remembered from his training that there is no such thing as true black when staying in the shadows. It meant that all black would stick out from the shadows, giving away his position.

Jim checked his attire one last time before turning back to the other three males. "Let's go kick some ass."

The boys all piled out of the locker room, though Colton had one last remark, "It' going be legen...wait for...DARY!"

* * *

 


	14. There was a Firefight!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sigma Squad takes on a team training exercise.

* * *

**Training Room - 2:30 p.m.**

The girls were the first group to exit the locker room and make their way to the training arena. Sure enough, just as Canary promised, their weapons and tools were lying on a table to the right of the main door. Uncharacteristically silent, each grabbed their equipment and began their final preparations for the team training session. They all looked at sound of the door parting to reveal the guys making their way into the room.

"Well, look who decide to join the party." Sam couldn't help but needle the boys for being the later of the two parties.

Cameron let out a sly smile. "Hey, I like having an audience for my entrances."

After everyone got a small laugh out of Cam's retort silence returned as Jim and Cameron grabbed their own equipment. Avery watched the group and couldn't help but notice a trend. "So, I guess black is back in season, huh?"

The team looked around at each other's clothing choices and noted, much like Avery, that black seemed to be the dominant color in the room. Sam, though, had another thought. "Well, not counting Tom, I guess you're right."

"Hey, I think I look pretty awesome!" Tom was a little miffed, thinking that Sam was poking fun at his costume.

Sam quickly picked up on the situation and moved to remedy it. "I think we all do. I was just pointing out that yours is decidedly bolder than anyone else's. Which is not a bad thing by any means."

Just as everyone finished their preparations a buzzing was heard from inside Avery's jacket. "Oh, forgot about these. They're our comm units, built right into the League's system by yours truly."

Everyone looked at the ear pieces for a moment before placing them in their ear. Canary's voice quickly came over the speakers. "Alright Sigma Squad, listen up. I'm loading the simulation program around you now." As she spoke, the room around the team quickly changed to that of the interior of the craft that they stole from the Reach base, except for the fact this it was now modified to seat nine.

Cam touched his communication device, "So what's with the ship?"

"Colt, we're first going to get you familiar with your team's future vehicle." Canary's name for Cameron confused many members of the team.

"Uh, who exactly is 'Colt'?" Sam was among those thrown off by the new name.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys, sorry." Cam addressed his teammates. "It's my codename. My signature weapons are my two Colt pistols and Samuel Colt is a famous gun maker, so I thought I might as well use Colt as a codename. It's probably lame, but I can always change it later. So, Canary, I take we're supposed to use our codenames for this session?"

"That's correct. Maybe you should all introduce yourselves by your codename. Don't worry too badly if you forget each other's codenames this time out, we'll work on that more when we have time."

"You guys already know mine: Nitro!" Tom was quite excited to get the mission started.

Sam was next "Tric, short for electricity."

"Polaris." Penny followed after her friend.

"Shade." Chase was testing out the craft's seats when she spoke.

Colton, who had turned invisible, popped into view behind Maya in an attempt to scare the assassin. It failed utterly. "Mine's Shadow." Colton dejectedly headed toward an open seat in the rear of the craft.

Jim laughed at Maya's non-reaction to Colton's prank, "Arrow's fine by me."

"Renegade." Maya turned and headed toward the front of the craft.

Cam caught himself staring just a little too long at her retreating form when Avery's voice caught his attention, "You guys can call me Forge." After hearing her codename Tom's eyes widened, which Avery noticed. "Yeah, I remembered your idea from when we escaped. It's definitely grown on me since then."

When everyone was done canary re-entered the conversation. "So, now that that's done we can get to do session. As you can see you're in a modified version of the ship you captured from the Reach. It's been modified to fit all nine of you for missions, as it will be your team's main method of transportation. With the help of Avery we've redesigned it and added a few other things."

"Yeah, those Reach idiots are terrible engineers. So much dead space in the design." Avery felt the need to cut in on Canary's monologue.

Dinah took it in stride. "Quite right. We've been able to attach a cloaking device to the ship, which Avery reverse engineered from Miss Martian's ship. The weapons have been upgraded as well and we've improved the structural integrity so underwater engagements and space travel will be more effective than a normal Reach craft of this variety. Today you'll be flying to your target location in this craft to get a feel for it before test the real thing."

"So, this is probably a stupid question, but whose going to be doing the flying?" Colton felt a little silly for asking, but felt it was necessary nonetheless.

"Maybe the chick who designed the human-Reach interface and rebuilt the control system?" Avery was quick and confident with her reply before she stepped toward the pilot's seat. With a flip of two switches Avery had the engines firing. "You guys may want to sit down; this baby's going to haul some serious ass. I mean, if the inertial dampeners do their job it won't be a problem."

"And if they don't?" Jim was beginning to get slightly worried about the guesswork on Avery's part.

Avery was quite chipper in her answer. "Oh, our brains will just be crushed against the back of our skulls. No big."

Everyone, even the stoic Maya, stared wide-eyed at the crazy teen behind the controls. Avery didn't even bat an eyelash she shoved the throttle level down, sending the craft shooting out of the vehicle bay of the simulated Hall of Justice. Everyone was momentarily jerked upright back into their seats, the sudden acceleration catching them off guard. Avery backed off the throttle after 15 seconds before swiveling back to face her team.

"See? What did I tell you? Nothing to worry about." Just as everyone relaxed in their seat Avery grinned devilishly. "Now this on the other hand will probably make one of you hurl!" Avery grabbed the pilot's stick and jerked it back toward her. Without warning the ship began shooting upward into the air. As the ship neared the apex of the loop the teens felt nearly gravity pulling them to the roof of the craft, but it was fleeting as Avery continued through the loop until the craft was once again flying straight.

Cameron shook his head to clear the dizziness. Most of the others had handled it fine, but Sam was quite green in the face.

"Sam, you are not allowed to puke today. If you do, then I do. And it will not be pretty." Penny was quick to notice her friend's distress and move to counter it.

Apparently it worked because Sam visibly relaxed. "You know, I could actually see that happening.

While this took place no one noticed as Avery flicked the stick straight to the left and executed a stunningly fast barrel roll.

"Avery!" Maya, who had been sitting in the co-pilot's chair, was none too pleased. Her commanding voice stopped the pilot's insane laughter. "If you attempt that one more time I will find a way to harm you."

Maya's cold stare would have cowed a lesser individual, but not Avery. Avery just laughed in Maya's face. "Damn Maya, you should have seen your face when I pulled that barrel roll! Priceless!" Again, the teen burst into laughter, and Maya found herself trying and failing to suppress a smile.

"Wow, she smiled!" Cameron was the first to notice Maya's display of emotion.

Maya rounded on Cameron, but was stopped by Jim, who had unfastened his seat belt and was on his way to talk to Avery. "Maya, I don't need you killing my second in command before we even start this mission. Besides, he's only insulting you because he likes you." Jim smirked at Cameron as he continued. "Guys are stupid like that."

Maya either failed to notice, or chose not to respond to, the second part of Jim's statement. "What do you mean 'your' second in command? Are you taking charge of this team?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Look Maya, we all know you've got the most field experience out of all of us, but it was for the League of Shadows. And they aren't exactly the greatest team players, are they?" When Maya didn't offer a reply Jim pressed on. "I've been trained to lead a team, maybe not one quite like this, but I know how to do it. I'm probably not the most natural leader on this team, but the guy who is doesn't want the job." Maya stole a quick glance at Cameron, guessing correctly that he was the one Jim was referring to. "Is this going to be a problem?"

Maya pondered Jim's logic for a brief moment. "No, your reasoning is sufficient."

"Well, alright then." Jim had been prepared to have a long and drawn out verbal argument over the issue, but was nonetheless thankful for Maya's acceptance of the issue.

The team settled back into silence, but it didn't last for more than a few seconds as Black Canary once again came over the comm system. "Well, that went a lot quicker that I thought it would. It took our first covert team going on an actual mission to find their leader." Dinah couldn't bring herself to utter his name; his assumed treachery was still a sore subject after all these years. "Now that the issue is settled, here is your assignment. Avery is going to fly the ship to the coordinates that have been entered into the nav computer. You will devise a plan to infiltrate the target building and deal with any perpetrators found inside or outside the building. As previously mentioned there are 3 main targets you're tasked to apprehend. And one last thing; the computer will sense if you get hit by a bad guy and it will hurt."

Maya had unsheathed her knife and was currently inspecting its sharpness. "And if the targets don't come willingly?" What she didn't ask was plainly evident by her tone.

"No killing Renegade. Bring them in alive."

"Who are the targets?" Jim was feeling a little in the dark.

"That's for you to find out in the field."

Tom was also a little confused. "But don't you normally know who we're going after."

"You're not wrong Nitro, but in this case we want to see how you handle the unknown, though each of the targets is no stranger to the team you've recently joined. You'll be graded on infiltration and combat efficiency. Good luck."

Everyone looked around for a moment while Avery fiddled with controls, presumably getting the craft to head to the assigned coordinates.

"So who in here, besides me, really hates tests?" Sam had already raised her hands and looked around to see who would join her. She was quite pleased when nearly the whole team followed her lead.

"I find that tests can be quite useful in determining one's level of competency." Maya did not see the fuss over the issue.

Sam couldn't understand her teammate's attitude. "Maya, you're really screwed up, you know that?"

The team shared a little laugh before once again lapsing into nervous silence. About five minutes later Avery got their attention. "Hey, we're just about at the location. Cloak is engaged. Thankfully, the simulation is programmed for nighttime as we'll be landing on a nearby roof. It'll make it harder for them to spot us as we unload."

"Roger that." Jim unfastened his restraint and joined Avery at the front of the craft, scouting for areas to land. "There." Jim pointed to the top of what looked to be an apartment building, which prompted Avery to maneuver the craft for landing.

Jim turned to the team. "Alright people, double check your equipment. Let's get this done."

With barely a light thud, Avery set the craft on the roof and lowered the door over the right wing. Jim and Maya went first, kneeling on the barrier wall of the roof. They pulled out binoculars that they found in the craft and surveyed the target warehouse. After a couple minutes Jim gave a hand signal to the team behind him and the other 8 soon joined him along the wall.

"I've got two guards on the south door. There's a bank of windows on the top of the warehouse that might make for an easy entrance." Jim returned to his surveillance after addressing the team.

Maya added her report. "There are four on the north end. I agree about the windows, but how exactly do we get there?"

No one answered the assassin until an idea struck Avery. "Why don't we zip line over there?" Seeing the look on her teammate's faces she further explained. "Well, I'm pretty sure there is a line of tow cable on the ship. I included it in the ship manifest when Robin asked how we'd retrofit the ship for our own purposes. We'd just need a way to get it over the street."

"I could try to lift it across." Penny was quick to offer her help. "I brought this metal on my wrist bracers and I should be able to create a clamp for me to hold on to."

"Nice! I'll go grab the cable. Shade, you want to help? It's pretty heavy stuff."

A few moments later the girls returned with the cable. Avery fastened to the ship for the anchor while Chase left the open end with Penny. Penny quickly fashioned a clamp around the wire and moved it as quickly as possible over the street and onto the top part of roof of the warehouse. Just under a minute later, the hook was set and the team was ready to go.

Maya went first, followed by Jim. The two worked in tandem to catch the remaining members of the team as they reached the end of the line. Cameron and Avery were the last to go.

"Colt, head on over." Jim's voice rang through the comms. "Forge, I need you to stay with the ship, keep it hot in case we need a quick exit."

"Bullshit Jim, I should be going. What if you need something hacked?"

"Then you'll walk someone through it, but you're the only one who can fly this ship if we get into trouble. And would you try to remember to use our codenames while we're on mission?"

Avery had no retort to offer and it seemed Jim certainly had a point. Cameron shrugged after the exchange and headed over the zip line to join the team.

Once everyone was over Jim scouted the interior of the warehouse with Penny and Sam while he sent Colton, Tom, and Chase to handle the south guards. Cam and Maya headed north to take care of the four guards posted there.

Tom reached the south end first. "I'm going to ice them until we can get down there later." The boy raised his hand to use his cryonics.

Nothing happened.

"It…it should have worked." Tom was beyond confused, nothing like this had ever occurred before.

Colton quickly sprang into action. He conjured two force walls and forced together, catching the guards in between. "Arrow, south guards have been taken care of."

"Not bad Shadow, just waiting to hear back from Renegade and Colt."

On the north side of the warehouse Cameron and Maya were perched on the edge of the roof, hashing out a quick plan. At least, that's what Cameron thought they were doing when Maya was about to vault off the roof.

He spoke in a loud whisper to get her attention. "Woah! Hold up for a second." Maya ''s eyes were shooting daggers as Cameron placed his hand on her shoulder to stop her, though the assassin did little to encourage him to take his hand off her.

Thinking of a plan Cam smiled slyly. "I've got an idea. I think you'll know when to come in." He then stood up and motioned for Maya to descend the building behind the guards. "Shall we?" Maya, not being used to this type of interaction, was thrown momentarily before working her way down the side of the building ahead of Cameron.

The four guards were been walking in a two-by-two formation, sharing small talk amongst themselves. They were quite surprised when they stumbled upon a lone teen, standing in their path, as they rounded the corner of the building. The quickly brought their guns to bear on the young man, who seemed unnervingly calm.

"Oh, hey there guys. Fancy meeting you all out here in the middle of the night."

The leader of the group was unimpressed by the kid's boldness. "Surrender now and you won't be killed."

"Somehow I rather doubt that. And besides, if you kill me then my assassin friend will just have to kill you in return. So when you think about, you're in a bit of a lose-lose situation, don't you think?"

"What?" The mercenary raised his gun and was about to pull the trigger when heard one of his men fall to the ground behind him. He took his eyes off his target in time to see Maya jump from the shadows and deliver a swift kick to another man's face, sending him crumpling to the ground without a fight. While Maya held his attention he failed to notice Cameron leap towards him and grab the gun. Cameron maneuvered to flip the leader over onto his back and dropped low to kick the legs out from the fourth guard. Maya easily finished off the fallen guard with a heel to the face.

Cameron sprang up from his leg kick and contacted Jim. "Arrow, north guards have been neutralized. We're heading back to you know, ready for infiltration?"

"Just about Colt. See you when you get back."

Before heading down to the ground Cameron and Maya had found an old fire escape ladder, which provided easy access back to the roof. The duo reached the main group just after Colton, Chase, and Tom.

Jim nodded to acknowledge their presence and briefed the team. "Alright, it looks like our first target is Bane and bunch of his lackeys." The villain's name was well known to most of the team. After all, he was one of Batman's more frequent nemeses.

"I'm quite familiar with the man." Maya was quick to offer her knowledge of the villain.

"I thought you might be which is why you'll be handling Bane along with Shade. She'll be your muscle."

Maya looked a little put-off at the team up. "I do not require back up to deal with the thug."

Jim was ready and waiting to deal with Maya's attitude. "Think of it this way: she gets him on the ground, you swoop in to cut of the venom supply. Piece of cake."

"I am unfamiliar with that reference."

The team groaned silently around her. "It'll be easy is all I'm saying. We'll handle the goons. Make sure to keep an eye out for the second and third targets as well. Well, then I guess it's time to move. Stay low and move quietly."

Jim had Cameron and Maya move into through the window first, followed the others with Jim bringing up the rear. There was a catwalk just on the inside which the team all fit onto easily enough. The walkway spanned the length of the building with a ladder on each end leading to another catwalk hallway between the roof and the floor. The team split up, each squad taking a ladder. Colt, Shadow, Tric, and Polaris went south. Arrow led Renegade, Nitro, and Shade north. The team's paused when they reached the ground.

"How could they not patrol this?" Colton was surprised Bane's men could miss such an easy entrance point. He thought he was being silent enough to avoid detection. That was not the case.

"Because el niño's, you've walked into a trap." Bane's Spanish accented English boomed throughout the warehouse. Instantly, lights were trained on the team's positions.

"Move!" Jim barked through the comms as he led his squad to cover behind some large tanks between them and Bane's men. Cameron followed suit on the far side of the warehouse. Gunfire erupted from Bane's armed thugs.

"Arrow, we need to move before we get flanked!" Cameron turned to Colton. Thankfully the gunfire from Bane's men was allowing the team to communicate freely. "Shadow's going to help us move to your 3 o'clock. Tric and Polaris will open up on the goons firing on us while I provide cover for Renegade and Shade to move into position."

"Acknowledged, execute."

Colton closed his eyes to focus his abilities and extend a field of invisibility around himself and the three others. When it was done he nodded to Cameron who motioned for the four to get ready to move to their left and toward Jim's position. While Colton could make the group invisible it wouldn't stop Bane and his men from hearing them if they ever stopped shooting. As a distraction, Cameron pulled two of his three smoke grenades out and tossed one each to the teams left and right.

"Shadow, you going to be able to make a force field out of that too?"

"Maybe, it'll put a lot of strain on my power to keep it that big though."

"Alright, then we'll stay tight and move fast." Cameron waited a few seconds for the smoke to grow thicker. "Move!"

The teens attempted to maneuver as quickly as they could to their destination, but Bane's men continued to fire. Colton's force/invisibility field held up at first, but he was visible straining after the group was halfway in a few seconds of moving. Just before the four made it behind a waste management container Colton could no longer maintain both the invisibility and force field, sacrificing the force field to keep the team from being seen. In retrospect, he should have done the exact opposite.

"Ahh!" Suddenly, Penny stumbled, holding her leg in obvious pain.

Cameron, who had been the trailing member of the group grabbed Penny and carried her to the container. There was no blood, but an angry red mark was present in the middle of Penny's left thigh.

"Cam, I can't feel my leg. This must be what Canary was talking about."

"Must have been a stray bullet. Arrow, Polaris is down. We're still going to provide cover for you, but I'm sending Shadow to you."

Jim finished firing an arrow toward the nearest goon, effectively pinning him to the ground with one of GA's net arrows. Maya threw a pair of knives laced with tranquilizer. Both found their mark. Even with the three down, there was still about 24 or so goons still shooting. Tom was frozen, still shaken over the failure of his cryonics earlier in the mission. Chase felt pretty useless, having no ranged weapons at her disposal.

"Roger that Colt. You and Tric light the bastards up!"

While Colton moved invisibily to Jim's location, Cameron double checked his ammunition. "Tric, you take the guys to our left. Get as many as you can. We'll hit 'em when Shadow's ready to move Renegade and Shade."

Jim radioed Cameron when Colton was ready to move. "Colt, Shadow's ready to move. They'll move on your signal."

"Alright, Shadow move when I open fire." Cameron clicked off the safety of his pistols and leaned around the corner of the container to let loosed a volley of shots. Thankfully his weapon had been modified to shoot bullets and tranquilizers, though the tranquilizer clips only housed four shots compared to the regular capacity of nine. Each shot struck home with every pull of the trigger. While he neutralized the eight guards that he could Sam hit the other side, using his electricity to some guards. The distraction did its job as Colton successfully allowed Maya and Chase.

"All I got left is lethal ammo. Penny if we get you into position, can you knock their guns out?"

Penny lightly nodded and Cam and Sam moved Penny so she could just see around the corner of the container. She focused on her targets as she lifted the metal bars on her bracers. She sent them flying into the hands of the remaining villains, knocking their guns effectively out of reach.

"Everybody, take 'em down!"

Jim's command was short and to the point and everyone followed the order. Cameron moved in to engage combatants in hand-to hand while Sam, who was about half down on energy, blasted away foes from afar due to her fighting inexperience. Jim flew in, using his bow expertly in close quarters combat. Penny recalled her metallic barbs, not wanting to hit her teammates. Tom remained behind cover while Colton, instead of joining the fight, moved to Tom's position to provide a defense for the shell-shocked teen. Chase ran towards Bane, who had already engaged Jim.

"Hey ugly!" When the Santa Prisca native turned to face the voice he found himself completely caught off guard as she threw all her weight behind a blow to his gut. As he double over Maya jumped over his head, slashing his venom supply. Bane screamed out in pain as the liquid spilled out on the floor before the loss of the sustaining fluid rendered him unconscious.

"So, wasn't there supposed to three targets?" Jim ignored Colton's question as he examined his bow. The hit from Bane had broken it cleanly in half.

"Yo, earth to Jim."

"Oh, sorry Colton. Yeah, if I remember right there were supposed to be two more targets."

As Jim and Colton were conversing the simulation around them began changing. In a matter of seconds, the team found themselves back in the training room. Penny found that her leg was suddenly back in perfect shape when the simulation ended

Canary's voice again rang over the comm. "I think we'll call it a day for now Sigma Squad. Not bad for a first time, but there are many things to work on. We'll debrief tomorrow morning, for now, just get some rest."

Everyone but Maya, Jim and Cameron headed off to their respective locker rooms for a shower and a change of clothes.

Maya was actually the first to speak. "Your plan was solid Jim, this team just needs a little more time to work together." Having shared her thoughts the ex-assassin left the room.

Jim and Cameron stood in stunned silence, watching as she left. Jim spoke first. "Did she just…?"

"Dude, I know. It was like she was human being there for a second." Cameron was just as shocked at their female teammate's words.

Jim recovered as the two shared a small laugh at Cam's joke. "Looks like you might have a chance with her after all Cam."

Cam just stared at Jim. "Come on, can we not get into this right now? Besides, we should hit the range and do a little mission analysis of our own. Maybe think of how we could have done it different. You know, maybe show the League we're taking this seriously?"

"Agreed. I'm gonna go grab a water. Meet you at the range?"

"Yeah, see you there Jim."

* * *


	15. Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom gets diagnosed by the League's medical staff and the team has a movie night.

* * *

**April 18 – 3 days after training mission  
Hall of Justice – Medical Wing - 11:37 a.m.**

"Tom, you can go change back into your normal clothes now." Canary's voice came through the scanner's speaker.

Black Canary, Nightwing, Hawkeye, and Emil Hamilton all stood in the viewing area of the League's imaging room. Canary stepped into the scanning section and opened the exit for Tom so the young hero could find his way to the locker room. Once the kid left, Canary re-joined her comrades. Emil's head was buried in the computer, analyzing all the data the League had collected so far on one of the newest charges.

"So what's the word, doc?" Nightwing was hoping to get to the bottom of the matter quickly.

"Well, I'm not 100% on this because the meta-gene was never my area of focus, but I can say with some certainty that whatever was done to this young fellow dramatically altered how his body manifests the meta-gene."

"What does that mean? Will he ever re-gain his ice powers?" There was clearly worry in Canary's voice as she questioned the doctor.

"Hard to say. The tests have shown a considerable power increase in his pyrokinetic ability, which coincides with a decline and apparent 'death' of his cryonic ability."

"So that would be 'no' then?"

"Hard to say, Canary. We've never really had someone with dual abilities to study before. His body might just need to adjust to whatever the Reach scientists did to his genetic code. Then again, he may just become a pure pyrokinetic."

Nightwing sighed, collecting his thoughts, "I suppose I should let him know what's going on."

"No, I've got this." Hawkeye had remained silent throughout the doctor's explanation. He was sort of the kid's mentor. They'd gotten along quite well during their training session and throughout the three days that they had been running tests on the 13-year old.

* * *

By the time Hawkeye got to the locker room he found it already deserted. As a fairly veteran member of Nightwing's team he had been in the Hall on many occasions and as such, knew of a few places that Tom might head for. The first was the team's barracks, which turned out to be a dead end. He then made a trip to the range to see if Tom was hanging with Jim or Cameron, but it again proved a fruitless endeavor. Hawkeye eventually headed for the training room where he'd helped Tom first train his flame ability. This time his search paid off. Tom was standing in center of the room and a ball was lying on the floor several feet in front of him. The kid's face was beet red and he was visibly shaking, though Hawkeye couldn't tell if it was exertion or frustration that caused that latter.

"You know, push any harder and I think you'll have an aneurysm." Tom wasn't even shocked at Hawkeye's abrupt approach. He seemed too despondent to even care.

"Why would you care anyway? I'm pretty much useless like this! I may as well just quit."

Hawkeye just shook his head. "That's complete crap and you know it." This caused Tom to look at Hawkeye for he had expected words of sympathy, not Hawkeye's no-nonsense attitude. "Look Tom, I'm not going to say you shouldn't be upset by losing your cryonics. In fact, I'd be worried about you if you weren't."

"I get the feeling that you're going to tell me all about how you know exactly how I'm feeling, right?"

"Damn right that's what's coming next. I was kidnapped, tortured, experimented upon, and had my family ripped away from me by that asshole Vandal Savage. Yet, here I am, fighting to take them down."

"Doesn't have anything to do with what I'm going through."

Hawkeye sighed. "Actually it does. I know what it is to lose a part of yourself, like your cryonics. You've built yourself this persona around having two abilities and now one of them is gone. It sucks, but it doesn't have to be the end of everything you've been working for." Hawkeye closed the gap between them and used his best coaching voice for his final point. "So when it comes down to it you have only question to ask yourself: are you going let what those Reach guys did to you keep you on the sidelines or are you going to stay in this fight and kick their asses?"

Tom returned to staring the floor, but managed to squeak out a reply. "I'll stay."

"Great!" Hawkeye exuberantly slapped Tom's left arm. "Now how about I show you that flying technique?"

* * *

**12:03 p.m.**

"Yo, Jim got something I want to run by you." Jim and Cameron had just been finishing up on the range when an idea for a team activity passed through Cameron's mind.

"What's on your mind, Cam?"

"Something Maya said about understanding your 'piece of cake' reference."

"And what does your completely obvious crush on the girl have to do with whatever it is you want to tell me?"

"Could you stop being a dick for a few seconds and let me finish?" When Jim didn't respond Cameron continued. "I know that Tom's been having some trouble with his powers and that Chase is still way too closed off of a person. I remember that Canary said something about maybe having a team bonding thing and it's sounding more and more like a good idea. This led me to think about having a movie night. What do you think?"

"Not a bad idea, though we've got so many personalities it might be hard to find something everyone would like."

"Trust me; I've got something everyone is going to love. And if they don't I feel sorry for their very souls."

As the two finished packing they made their way to the kitchen area and subsequently ran into most of their team members. In fact, everyone but Tom was lounging around the island, lazily making their way through their individual lunches. They looked up momentarily at the arrival of the two oldest males on the team.

"Well this place is certainly lively, isn't it?" Jim was quite surprised that the team was acting so subdued. Clearly, everything that had happened over the last few weeks was taking its toll.

"I do believe your right, Jim." Cameron paused for dramatic effect. "And I've found the perfect thing to liven up this place even more: a movie marathon!"

This got the team's attention. "What exactly did you have in mind?" Sam was a little apprehensive; her taste in movies was probably not what the rest of the team had in mind.

"For starters we'd have to wait until Tom's able to watch." That went without objection as the team was well aware of Tom's current mental state. "Once he's here I was thinking we'd start with something fun; maybe _Kung Fu Panda_. Then I'd show you guys one of my favorites: _Airplane!_ If that doesn't work then we'll pick something from Nightwing's extensive digital collection. Sound good?"

"What is this _'Kung Fu Panda'_? I do not believe a panda would be proficient in the art of kung fu." Maya's deadpan reaction to Cameron's idea had the team struggling to contain their laughter, well, at least those who had actually seen _Kung Fu Panda_.

"I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it's hilarious. So, should we plan on starting around 4, and then get some pizza before the second one?"

The thought of pizza appealed greatly to Penny. "Yes definitely. Pizza makes everything better." While everyone else was excited about getting pizza Maya only looked confused. Penny couldn't believe that Maya didn't know about pizza! "Maya have you really never had pizza before?" Maya shook her head no. "That's an outrage! We should go tell Ra's that he should let his people eat pizza. This is a travesty of epic proportions!"

Maya laughed at the thought of these teens marching on Nada Parat to berate her former master on the finer points of a diet that included pizza.

"Sounds like fun Cam, but I got to have my psych session of Canary first." Chase abruptly entered the conversation before heading out of the kitchen. Her input cast a more somber atmosphere over the team.

"You think she's alright?" Colton was a little worried about his teammate.

Cameron thought about her situation for a moment before answering. "Colton, she was held for in captivity for four months. God knows what they did to her in there, but if she was completely ok mentally after all that I'd be a little worried. At least she's getting help. If there's nothing else then you're all free until our movie night begins. See you then!" Cameron grabbed a bottled water and a sandwich before heading back to his room.

* * *

**1:45 p.m.**

After her session with Black Canary, Chase felt the need to blow off some steam in the training room. She spotted one of Superboy's punching bags hanging from the ceiling and decided that it would do her good to wail on it for a while. As she threw a series of jabs and hooks into the bag she thought back to the last four months. She had been training her powers with her grandfather for a few weeks before she felt the need to venture out on her own. She knew that she wanted to be the opposite of her father, the bank robber, so she set out to find a few crimes she might be able to stop. Throwing a thunderous right hook Chase paused as she recalled the events of that night.

* * *

**5 months ago**

Chase had been walking around a seedy area of downtown New York, thinking it would be prime area for some low-life scum to commit a crime. She never even got the chance to try as one of the more famous ice villains, Icicle Jr., came out of nowhere. He attempted to grab her and inject her with some kind of tranquilizer. She promptly smacked him into the opposite alley wall.

The villain just smiled, itching for a fight. "Looks like we've got a live one, Kaldur! And this one isn't an ordinary street kid."

"Agreed." A deep and imposing voice from above drew her gaze as she spotted a man in black armor on top of one of the buildings overlooking the alley. "Freeze her. Our partners will enjoy studying her." Chase didn't have time to move as she felt only cold, followed by blackness. Next thing she knew she was being examined by alien scientists.

* * *

**Present day**

"You just going to stare at the punching bag, or are you actually going to hit it?" Colton's voice brought Chase back to reality.

"I was thinking about hitting it, now I'm thinking I might hit you."

"Nice one. Though seriously, want to spar?"

"I could punch you through a wall, remember?"

"Yeah, and I can make force fields, remember?"

"Fine."

"Well fine to you too."

Colton didn't want to ruin his shirt so he removed it for the fight. After that the two quickly got into fighting stance. Chase charged her opponent, planning on using her strength to quickly end the engagement. She wasn't prepared for Colton to use a force field to knock her on her back. She lay on the ground for a moment, catching her breath. Colton walked over to check on her.

"Hey, you alright? I know that you're going through a lot what with what happened and all, but seriously, if you need someone on the team other than Canary to talk to I'm perfectly capable of listening or being used as a punching bag."

"I just might have to take you up on that offer." Chase swung a fist Colton's head, which was blocked by a force field. While Colton was shielded from the blow it still knocked him back several feet from the sheer force behind it.

"Remind me to never tell you that you hit like a girl, OK?"

"Sure thing." Chase again charged, but this time she became as light as she could. Her density was so little that Colton's force field passed right through her. Shifting back to normal she continued running until she tackled Colton to the ground. Not one to give up, Colton attempted to maneuver himself on top of Chase before she could shift her density to pin him to the ground. He found himself only a few inches from Chase, with her back to the ground. They both stopped fighting when they realized what position they were in, yet neither made a move to get off the floor.

"Hey guys just wanted to remind you of the movie!" Tom's voice drifted through the door.

"Colton, hide us!" Chase didn't want the team's youngest member to see her and Colton in this compromising position.

Tom walked in when the doors parted, only to find the room completely empty. "Huh, I could have sworn I heard those two fighting in here." Tom stood in the room, looking around to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. He walked toward the center of the floor, right where Colton and Chase were laying.

Without a word Chase grabbed Colton and hauled him to his feet. A weird sensation overtook Colton as Chase moved them silently toward the door. Suddenly he was being pulled through the closed door, only to find himself solid again on the other side.

"That was freaky! What did you do that for?"

"Sorry, I just didn't want Tom finding us like that."

"Finding us like what?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. We were lying on the floor, I'm only wearing a sports bra and you're shirtless!"

Colton looked down at himself, "Oh, right. I forgot about that."

The two walked toward the locker room to avoid Tom, who was undoubtedly still looking for them. "So, if you don't mind my asking, are we going to talk about what happened there at the end?"

This time it was Chase's turn to act aloof. "What? No idea what you're taking about."

"Chase stop. I know that you know we kind of had a moment in there before he walked in. Don't try to deny it."

Chase just sighed loudly. "Fine, it's just that I'm in a weird place right now. I'm definitely not looking for whatever the hell that was, not with how messed up I am."

"I don't think you're messed up at all, Chase." Chase froze at the sincerity in Colton's voice. "I know that whatever happened in the facility was obviously messed up and if you don't want to talk about it right now, that's fine. Just remember that I do want to help, OK?"

The duo reached the locker rooms. Before they parted ways Chase grabbed Colton's hand and looked into his eyes. "I know you do. And thank you." She then dropped his hand and walked in to the locker room leaving a very confused boy standing outside the locker room door.

* * *

**6:00 p.m.**

"I will admit that it was quite humorous." Maya had indeed been pleasantly surprised by the movie.

"Skadoosh!" Tom was enthusiastically shouting one of the best one-liners from the movie, much to the amusement of the rest of the team.

"Alright everyone, listen up." Jim rose from the couch and looked around the room. He hid his smile at that fact that it seemed Chase and Colton had moved closer and closer to each other throughout the movie. Plus it looked as though Cam had taken the opportunity to hang out with Maya, so all was well with the team as far he was concerned. "What kind of pizza do you want?"

"Oh, oh, pepperoni." Tom was the first to answer, earning a few 'me too's' from Sam and Penny.

"Sausage." Colton went with another pizza topping staple.

I'm thinking we should start Maya off with a cheese." Cameron spoke up on behalf of Maya. "And I'm in the mood for a meat lover's. Four pizzas going to be enough for nine?"

"Hey, there are ten people here!" Avery shouted from the chair that she and Robin were sharing.

"Thanks, but I'm probably just staying to eat. Got to go on patrol with Nightwing tonight."

"Alright, so that's five pizzas total. Two pepperonis, a sausage, one cheese, and one meat lovers. I'll call in the order." Jim paused for a second. "Wait, how exactly are we going to pay for them?"

Robin jumped from the chair. "I'll take care of it. I'll zeta over to Gotham, grab the pizzas and head back here."

"Sweet, want to put in the order then while we put in the next movie?"

"Sure." And Robin left to go place the call away from the loud and obnoxious teens.

Cameron stood to introduce his next movie selection as the menu popped up on the screen "This next film is one of my very favorites. It's widely regarded as one of the greatest comedies of all time and is insanely quotable. I give you… Airplane: The Don't Call Me Shirley Edition!"

The team settled in for the movie, waiting until Robin came back with the food. They didn't get very far into it before Nightwing's voice came over the speaker. "Sigma Squad, report to main briefing room, a.s.a.p. New intel gathered from the Reach craft require immediate action. You'll be briefed on arrival."

The heroes all hesitated, not out of fear, but rather confusion. _We're already going on our first mission?_

* * *


	16. Belly of the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The stakes are raised as the team goes on it's first mission to infiltrate a Reach base.

* * *

**April 18, 2016  
Briefing Room – 6:15 p.m.**

The members of Sigma Squad wasted no time in assembling for Nightwing's briefing. In less than five minutes all nine members were present and accounted for as the leader of the League's covert team ran through the plan. The nine were admittedly a little overwhelmed as the whole of the Justice League and Nightwing's team all exited the briefing room as they arrived.

Avery was the first to make light of the issue. "So why is everyone leaving when's there is a briefing going on?"

"They received a separate briefing. I wanted to handle yours on a more personal basis. I know that you haven't had much training, but I'm going to be honest with you. We are truly are that desperate that you need to be included in this op. I don't like it, but those are the facts."

"Nice to know you think so highly of us." Sam had been slightly offended by Nightwing's tone.

"Anyway, moving on. Thanks to the data extracted by Robin and Avery we have been able to piece together the Reach's plan." Nightwing brought up several monitors showing a global map. Several sites were marked with red dots. "These are the locations of the Reach research bases, not unlike the one you escaped from nearly three weeks ago. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to infiltrate one of the bases in tandem with the other teams made up individual Leaguers and members of my team."

"Was that Mission: Impossible quote intentional?" Colton missed everything Nightwing said after the 'should you choose to accept it' part.

Nightwing smiled briefly, "Yes." The smile abruptly left his face. "Now focus up. You eight have first-hand knowledge of the bases and Reach technology so I will be sending you as a single unit to a location near the equator off the west coast of South America. You will enter the facility using the Reach craft as though you are a returning scout vessel. I have obtained some entry codes that will be used to authenticate your flight plan."

"Mind telling us where you got these codes. Kind of doubt they were just handing them out like a flyer at Best Buy."

"Let's just say I have my sources and leave it at that." Nightwing's stare effectively shut down any further commentary from the peanut gallery. "Once aboard the craft you will split into two teams. Each team will search for human captives and extract them if necessary along with looking for points of access in the Reach network for data on their invasion plans. Undoubtedly they've changed since you escaped from their facility with one of their ships. Team 1 will be Jim, Sam, and Maya. Team 2 will be Cameron, Chase, Penny and Colton. Avery will stay aboard the ship and provide backup by hacking into their security to enable your passage through the ship without detection. Questions?"

"Uh, what about me?" Tom was feeling a little left out when Nightwing didn't call his name for the mission.

"Tom, considering your current issues it's been decided that you will be staying behind."

"What?! Why?" Jim was less than pleased that this decision had been made without informing him, he who was essentially the team leader.

"Because we don't know how his ability will progress. He's a major liability in the field."

Jim wanted to reply in protest, but couldn't disagree with Nightwing's statement. He turned to Tom. "He's not wrong Tom. As much as we all want you there with us, it could get you killed and you might not be able to defend yourself." Jim turned back to Nightwing. "But next time, keep us in the loop if you're going to pull crap like that."

Nightwing nodded, realizing the Jim had a point. "Alright, go suit up and head to the ship. You're scheduled for departure in 15 minutes."

Most of the team gave Tom a pat on the shoulder or a similar gesture as they made their way to get suited up. Cameron, however, waited to be the last to leave. "Yo, Nightwing. Think you can find something for him to do?"

Nightwing had been on the way out of the room when Cameron's question caused him to stop. "What did you have in mind?"

Cameron gave Tom a glance. "I was thinking he could maybe help in ops or something."

Nightwing remained silent for a few seconds before answering. "I'll see if Mal needs any help. Shouldn't be a problem though."

As Nightwing left Tom found his mood changing for the better. "Better than doing nothing, I guess."

Cameron smiled. "Hey, I'd rather have you with us on the mission, but orders are orders. Besides you'll get to watch the feeds and help out from here. See you when we get back!" With that Cameron turned and ran toward the armory to get suited up for the mission.

Most of the team either had their equipment or didn't need any so when Cameron arrived he had the room to himself. Unlike the rest of the team Cameron had spent some time since the simulation redesigning his costume. Instead of just a simple Kevlar vest he was now wearing a two-piece Kevlar suit. The top and bottom with both black, but were off-set by a silver utility belt. He still wore the same black boots and used the same weaponry, but now it was more stream-lined. The last addition to the suit was a domino mask. He'd asked Nightwing to make one for him and thankfully there had been time to get it fitted. Cameron had a feeling that the various vision modes would come in handy. He also threw on a grey jacket for extra ammo capacity and the fact that the team's location was in the North Atlantic. As he geared up he didn't hear Nightwing approach him from behind.

"You know Cameron, you remind of a guy I know."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's a long and sad story, mostly involving his death and a dip in a Lazarus Pit. Maybe I'll tell you about when you get back."

"I think I'd like that." Cameron double checked his equipment and headed toward the launch bay to meet the team.

* * *

A few minutes later Cameron latched himself in the ship with the rest of the team. Maya gave his an appraising glance.

"I see you've changed your uniform"

"Thanks, wanted something with a little more utility."

"I did not say I found it appealing." Maya's statement would have been insulting to anyone else, but Cameron caught the traces of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

Deciding to play along Cameron responded as sarcastically dramatic as he could. "Ouch, that's hurts Maya. Really. I don't know how I will ever get off the mental scars you just inflicted upon me."

Jim turned back from the co-pilot's chair. "Alright, let's cut the chatter shall we?" The team leader turned to Avery, who was again acting as pilot. "Punch it."

Avery grinned widely as she slammed the throttle forward, launching the ship from the Hall of Justice vehicle bay. This time the team was ready for the high velocity of the vessel. No one spoke for the next few minutes as they were nervous about their actual first mission. Thankfully Nightwing had given the team the location that was closest to the Hall in terms of actual flying distance. So despite their later start time they arrived at their base just off the Greenland cost approximately the same times as the other squads.

"All squads, report in." Nightwing's voice was calm and collected as it came over the comm speaker. His team, consisting of Robin, Wonder Girl, Blue Beetle and Impulse, had taken the South American base.

"Beta Squad, in position." Superboy had been given command of the team's other top tier unit of himself, Batgirl, Miss M., Lagoon Boy and Beast Boy.

This is Atom. We're on site." Captain Atom had put together of a team of various League members who were still on Earth. Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Red Arrow were joining the former soldier in infiltrating a base in China.

"Sigma Squad is on station." Jim followed the others in reporting in to Nightwing.

Avery was not content to merely report in. There was a question she had wanted to ask ever since they left the Hall. "So why exactly is our team the only one with a entry code? I mean, we've got a cloak just like all the other teams, right?"

Most other heroes would have been annoyed by the questioning of their orders, but Nightwing was definitely not most other heroes. He answered quickly, with no hint of annoyance or anger. "Well, I believe that if you get in undetected you will be in a prime location and have a far easier time hacking into their security systems and information database."

"Oh, that's all I needed to know. So, should we start our approach?"

"Just about Avery. Alright everyone, listen up. Once inside you are to infiltrate the enemy research base and extract any possible human survivors in addition to pulling whatever data you can out of their computers. Maintain radio silence until you have left the base. I don't to risk the Reach hacking our comms. Each team has an individual frequency. Once inside switch to that for in-base communications. Every squad from my team will rendezvous at the Hall by 2330 hours. League members will head for the Watchtower upon mission completion." Cameron checked his watch. It read 7:00 p.m. or 1900 military time. "Good luck, see you all in a few hours."

Jim exhaled heavily. "Alright. Avery, send the codes. Time to see if Nightwing's inside source is legit."

Avery input several numbers and symbols into the main computer before sending them. Thankfully the interface had been re-designed so everyone could read and understand what was being sent. A progress bar appeared on the screen to show the codes were in route to the base ship. A box appeared on the screen reading, "Codes confirmed. Access granted."

"Nice. Avery, find us a spot near an exit." Jim swiveled his seat to look at Colton. "How long could you keep the seven of us invisible?"

Colton thought about the question for a moment. "Probably a couple minutes for sure, maybe more though if I push it. Creating a field for four was fairly easy in the simulation, but for seven it would have to be much bigger."

"Understood. Once Avery sets us down we'll get the lay of the land through the computer and then we'll make for an exit before splitting into our teams for S&R."

"S&R?" Penny was little confused with the military jargon.

Cameron, however, was quick to understand. "Search and rescue. My team, which includes you will be heading to the research sites and medical lab. Jim's group is heading for a computer center to give Avery a spot to remotely hack in."

Penny nodded as Avery brought the craft into the Reach bay. Chase suppressed a shudder as the ship crossed the threshold, but it didn't go unnoticed.

Colton silently put a hand on her shoulder. He whispered softly. "It'll be fine. Just keep moving and we'll be out of here in no time."

Chase quickly squeezed the boy's hand before ceasing the contact. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for what was to come.

Jim looked at the camera feed for a place to land. Thankfully, Nightwing had thought to create a fake window so that anyone looking wouldn't see that the ship was full of humans. To a Reach observer it would look like there was a Reach pilot or that it was simply empty depending on the mode Avery set it in. This, however, meant that when it was engaged the pilot would have to rely on a network of camera's on the ship's hull to fly the craft.

With a small thud Avery set the craft down on the loading bay floor. Thankfully the ship was only one of many that were moving around so no Reach agents were in a hurry to examine the vessel. Avery quickly pulled up the schematics of the base for the team to see.

"OK, I'll be quarterbacking for both squads. Jim, you take the right corridor at the first intersection. Cameron, you take the left. I'll guide you in the from there, just don't get too far ahead of me."

Jim gave the signal and Avery dropped the ramp. Colton exited first in invisible form to make sure the coast was clear. He re-entered the ship to inform Jim he was ready to put the team under a indivisibility field and move to the hallway that was about a dozen meters from the ship. Thankfully when Colton had them in the field they could still each other, otherwise moving would have been quite the chore. As they reached the intersection Colton dropped the field. The hall they came from opened up into a large room with two more off-shooting hallways. Each hall was a door that was currently open.

Jim checked his watch. "We meet back here in 45 minutes. If you haven't found anyone by then you get back here. Remember, code names from here on out and you only use our specific frequency. Nightwing doesn't want the whole comm network compromised. Understood?"

When Cameron nodded the two teams split apart. Cam's squad headed left, toward the medical bay. Avery continually supplied directions for the team from her comfortable seat in their captured Reach ship.

" _Head left, then pass another intersection, then take your first right._ "

"Understood Forge, Colt out."

After 20 minutes of traveling through the base Cam held up a fist to stop his squad behind him. Checking for guards Cameron again found that the coast was clear. Once they were on the move again Cameron couldn't help but feel that the team was being led into a trap.

"Arrow, this is Colt. You guys found any aliens yet?"

"Negative. This place is dead."

"Doesn't that seem odd to you? Isn't this a research base?"

"I agree, but focus on your objective. How long until you reach the med labs?"

"Forge says it'll be the next door we come to. You?"

"We've reached a server room. Renegade has already plugged Forge into the mainframe, data transfer is in progress. Should take about ten minutes. Chase holding up?"

Cameron stole a glance at his teammate. "Yeah, no problems since we entered."

"Good. Let me know what you find in the med bay. Arrow out."

Upon ceasing communication Cameron returned his focus to his team. They had already made it to the med bay, but only a close door stood between them and their target location.

"Forge, can you get this door open?"

" _Sure thing, Colt."_ Less than a second later the door began to part, revealing a corridor, much like the one the team had originally escape from. The corridor had several rooms, each of which were open.

"Team, we'll go two-by-two through each room. I'll take Chase. Colton, go with Penny. Radio whatever you find."

Cameron and Chase went to the first room on the left. It was full of the same pods that held the teens only a few weeks ago. Cameron watched as Chase stared at the empty pods.

"You going to be OK? This can't be easy."

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. Besides, whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger right?" Chase put on a fake smile to go along with her statement.

"Yeah, but ignoring problems is going to get you hurt or killed in our line of work."

Chase sighed, looking up at Cameron. "Alright, I'm not OK. But I am getting better and getting help, happy?"

Before Cameron could reply Penny's voice came over the comm. "Colt, this is Polaris. Our two rooms are empty, how about you?"

"Same here Polaris, though we've only hit one room so far. We'll meet you outside the last one and go in together."

Cameron nodded to Chase and the duo left to join their comrades outside the final room. Colton and Penny were stacked to the left of the door. Cameron and Chase mirrored them on the left.

"Ready?" Cameron's question was followed by a nod from his fellow teammates.

At Cam's signal the four burst into the room, ready for anything, but whatever it was they were expecting to find it they sure as hell didn't expect to find the Light's assassin, Tigress, standing over the unconscious body of Kaldur'ahm, the former Aqualad.

Tigress looked up, but didn't move to fight, causing the team to hesitate for a moment. Chase was the first to recover.

"I'm going to kill that bastard!" She leaped forward, shifting her density higher in her arms higher as she moved. She was going to bash the head of the man who captured her all those months ago. Tigress was having none of that and vaulted over the table, sending a kick to Chase's head. Once the young heroine was on the ground the assassin stood over her and muttered one word.

"Stop." In a quick motion the assassin pulled on a necklace around her neck, breaking it in two. The four rescuers stood in shock as her features abruptly changed to that of a figure they quite easily recognized. The now blonde woman simply stared at the team, wondering what they would do next.

Cameron was the one to put the pieces together first. "You're Nightwing's inside source aren't you?"

"I am."

Penny was completely confused at this point. "But you're supposed to be dead, aren't you? There's even a memorial in the Hall of Justice!"

"And for that matter, so is that piece of shit on that table." Chase had gotten back to her feet, but seeing a long-dead hero, not to mention one of your inspirations, had a way to make your stop what you were doing.

Colton remembered the Justice League attack in D.C. from about five years ago. "Yeah, remember when the Justice League got replaced and they attacked D.C.? They killed Aqualad in front of the Hall of Justice. He's got a statue right outside the main doors!"

"All of that is true." Artemis's voice silenced the young heroes. "Aqualad did die that day, but the Light brought him back to win his father, Black Manta, over to their cause. They put him in a Lazarus Pit and had him under mental control until a fight with the Team brought his personality back. Something about a mind blast from Psimon when Superboy punched the telepath in his face. Ever since he's been undercover as a double agent, but only Nightwing knew he was still alive."

Cameron quickly finished out the rest of the story. "So Nightwing had you fake your death so you could help get him out. But now, you're in too deep and your only ally is lying unconscious on a table. What happened?"

"Let's just say that his last meeting with our favorite Martian didn't go so well." Artemis looked back at Kaldur, sadness clearly written on her face. "So you guys have a way out of here?"

Cameron thought through the options. "Yeah. Polaris, lift the top of the table and Aqualad along with it. We need to get out of here now, we're already late."

As soon as Cam mention the time Jim's voice crackled over the comms. "Colt, this is Arrow. What's your ETA?"

"We're leaving now Arrow." Cameron looked over at Artemis and Kaldur. "And we're bringing a few guests."

The team's return trip went much faster, even with a Penny hauling a table ahead of her. In fact, Cameron's squad made the rendezvous point just a minute behind Jim's. Maya was the first to spot them. She was about to inform Jim, but she froze when she saw the new girl's face.

Artemis noticed the wide-eyed expression on the girl's face. "Do I have something on my face? What's with the deer in the headlights?"

"Uh, sorry." Maya was all of a sudden uncharacteristically hesitant. "It's just that you were the reason I left the League of Shadows."

"You were a Shadow?" Maya nodded silently. "Cool, we'll talk about that later. We need to leave, like right now!"

Jim touched his ear piece. "Forge, you got the ship ready to roll?"

"You know it Arrow." Avery kept the line open, but didn't speak for several seconds. When she did there was obvious concern in her voice. "You need to move now! They know we're here!" At that moment the communication ceased just as a large explosion was heard from the vehicle bay.

"Avery!" Jim didn't use the code name to call out to their teammate. When there was no response he turned to the team. "We need to get to the launch bay now. Double time it!"

Just as Jim barked the order Reach soldiers began streaming in from the two corridors that the team's traversed earlier. Seeing they were overwhelmed Jim turned to the team. "RUN!"

Jim made sure everyone got out ahead of him and turned to run when a stabbing pain went through his chest near his left shoulder. As he stood at the threshold of the door he staggered on his feet. He reached up with his right to find that he'd essentially been speared just above the heart, the blood running down his black uniform.

Cameron turned when he heard Jim's soft grunt of pain. Telling the others to run for the ship Cameron pulled out his pistols and began blasting away at the Reach soldiers who were surrounding the team's leader. The agents fell back as many fell to the hail of bullets unleashed from Cameron's guns. Jim saw that the Reach agents were simply falling back to lure Cameron in, but he couldn't move. The pain in his chest was subsiding, but he knew it was only due to the blood loss. He sank to his knees as Cameron approached him. With the last of his strength Jim grabbed Cameron's grenades as he pushed the younger man back through the door.

Cameron landed on the ground, having been caught off guard by the shove. He watched in horror as Jim spoke on last time. "Take care of them."

The archer pulled the pins on the three grenades and used on to hit the door control panels, cutting Cameron and the team off from their pursuers. Cameron regained his footing and ran back to the door.

"NOOOO!" He pounded on the door. He didn't feel Maya's presence until she began trying to drag him away from the door. "I've got to get Jim out of there!"

A series of three loud booms echoed down the hall where the members of Sigma Squad stood in shock at what had just taken place. The silence that followed was truly deafening.

* * *

 


	17. Aftermath - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team responds to the harrowing events of their first mission while en route back to the Hall of Justice.

* * *

**April 18 – 8:45 p.m.  
** **Reach base off the coast of Greenland**

After Jim's sacrifice Sigma Squad stood in the hallway in stunned silence. Most of the team hadn't actually witnessed the events prior to his death as they were running toward the launch bay in hopes of escaping. Cameron, however, saw the whole thing. He had tried in vain to get to Jim before the aliens did, but the team leader had grabbed Cameron's grenades and shoved him through the door to shield him from the explosion. After hearing the grenades go off Cameron had slumped down against the wall and put his head in his hands. Maya had been able to drag him away from the door just before the explosion, but even she was unsure what to do next now that their leader was gone. No one spoke until an unexpected voice came over their communication devices.

"So, are you guys coming or what?" Avery's voice made everyone's head jerk upward, as though they were unsure they had actually heard her voice.

"Uh, Avery? What the heck happened?"

"Yeah, Sam, it's me, but board now, questions later."

"We're on our way."

After getting to their feet, the members of Sigma Squad and their two guests continued down the hall that opened up into the launch bay where they found Avery had the ship ready to go. They also noticed that there copious amounts of wreckage from other Reach ships. Black smoke was billowing from the one nearest to the team's ship. After taking in the sight the team climbed aboard the ship and readied themselves to head back to the Hall of Justice. Once the team cleared the base Avery cloaked the ship and was about contact Nightwing when she realized someone was missing.

"Where the hell is Jim?" She looked to the various members of the team and got no response. Only blank stares and tears met her gaze. "Oh." Avery, getting the message, fell as silent as her team members.

Artemis sat silently as well for a few moments. This new team was completely foreign to her, but she knew that they wouldn't have been there if Nightwing didn't trust them. When she thought of her friend and leader she looked around the ship before asking an open question.

"Anyone got a radio?"

Avery answered by simply activating her comm unit to get in touch with the team's 'boss'. "Nightwing, this is Forge. Got a second?"

Nightwing's voice instantly came back through the speaker and was clearly heard by the whole team. "Yeah, we just exited the base. What's going on? Everyone alright?"

Avery's voice hitched momentarily before she chose to only answer the first of the two questions. "Got someone who wants to talk to you."

The pilot dug out her earpiece and tossed it to the newcomer on the ship, someone who Avery had yet to introduce to.

Artemis put the piece in place and activated the line. "Thought you might like to know that I made it out."

"Nice to hea – wait - what the hell were you going off the coast of Greenland? Your intel said you'd be in the base near Australia!"

"Well excuse me for not disobeying an order from Black Manta to take his comatose son to a Reach base for treatment!"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Sorry, you're right. I was just a little worried when we didn't find you. So, did you make it out alright, even with the rookies?"

Artemis looked around at the individuals she had never met before. She looked at the shocked and saddened faces before answering Nightwing. "Let's just say the exit didn't go as smoothly as yours did. You'll be briefed when we make it back to the Hall. Artemis out."

After Artemis shutoff the comm she removed it from her ear. Everyone sat in silence as Avery flew the ship to the Hall of Justice. The members of Sigma Squad were all thinking over what happened and couldn't help but unknowingly come to similar conclusions: _We were never prepared for this. And it's only going to get worse._

* * *

**Hall of Justice – 9:30 p.m.**

Once in the Hall's landing bay the members of Sigma Squad sat in their seats aboard their ship, wondering what to do next. The few who had broken down and cried had managed to somewhat collect themselves, but everyone remained motionless so Artemis once again took charge of the situation.

"I'm going to go get a gurney for Kaldur. He needs medical treatment. I don't know what you normally do after missions, but we used to start by actually getting off our ship."

"It was our first one. And we came back without leader." Artemis's attempt to get the team moving had brought Cameron back to reality, even if his response was short and blunt. Despite its brevity, it told Artemis all she needed to know. She wordlessly left the ship just before Cameron got up from his seat to address the team.

The young man took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to figure out the words to say. In the end he didn't have it in him to give a speech at the moment. Instead, he chose to give a simple command.

"Alright everyone, listen up. I want everyone to go take a shower and then meet up as a team in the lounge. I'll stay here to tell Nightwing what happened."

Cameron looked each member of the team in the eye as they left the ship. Maya was the last to leave and as she was about to cross the threshold she turned back to Cameron as though she had something to say. She opened her mouth to speak, but found she had no clue what to say, this situation was one she was unused to. She'd been exposed to death many times, but it had been years since one had been so personal. In the end, she decided against saying anything and followed her teammates out the door.

Cameron watched as the other six members of the team slowly walked out of the vehicle bay. As he stood outside the ship he couldn't help but feel the stress of the whole situation bearing down. He'd already lost his father to a mortar attack, now his best friend had killed himself to save the team. There was only so much a normal person could take, but to top it all off, the threat of a global invasion was undoubtedly going to come to fruition soon. Trying to make sense of it all he ran his left hand through his hair while staring at the floor. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even here Nightwing approach him until the veteran put his hand on his shoulder.

"Cam." Nightwing noticed that Jim wasn't waiting for him as well. "What happened?"

Cam stared at Nightwing for a moment before answering. "He didn't make it."

"What?! Why didn't someone radio me?"

"We were a little preoccupied at the time, what with seeing our leader blow himself to hell to save our asses." Something about Nightwing's question had obviously angered the teen. Enough to prompt him to leave Nightwing standing in the vehicle bay by himself, wondering what the heck had just happened.

* * *

Twenty minutes later Nightwing had setup a conference call with the members of the League that were currently available. He had spent the first part of the briefing going over the preliminary intel that the teams had gathered from their various incursions. But he had yet to drop his two biggest bombs. When he did, the reaction was less than enthusiastic.

"ARTEMIS IS ALIVE?" GA had risen from his chair and was attempting to glare Nightwing to death. Sadly, he wasn't a Bat, so he figured he'd do the next best thing and take a trip to the Hall to give the kid a piece of his mind. _And an arrow up the ass to boot,_ he thought as he tried to leave the conference room. Canary managed to physically stop him for the moment.

"If you don't get out of my way, Dinah I will make you!" Oliver turned to the screen where Nightwing's face resided. "And then you're next bird boy!"

"You know Ollie, I might have to come up there and kick your ass myself for threating Dinah like that." Artemis's voice had a tint of humor to it, but the joke was missed entirely by those present. Artemis joined Nightwing at the holographic monitor. "Yes, I'm alive Ollie. Perfectly safe."

"But, you died." Green Arrow's was much more subdued this time.

"It was faked. Clearly."

"Why?"

Artemis glanced at her friend. "Do you want to take this or should I?"

"I've got this." Nightwing took a moment to collect himself before spilling the whole situation to the League. "Remember how we found out Aqualad was actually alive some time ago? Well, after getting his mind right he decided to stay undercover to help us get closer to the Light and their new partner. Thanks to him, we now know that the partner was the Reach."

"Kaldur'ahm is not a traitor?" Aquaman was cautiously optimistic that he heard Nightwing correctly. "Is he there with you?"

"Yes, but there's a bit of a problem. On our mission to rescue Blue Beetle, Impulse, and Lagoon Boy, M'gann ran into Kaldur. She mind blasted him, leaving him in a catatonic state."

Aquaman was hopeful before, but this latest news had him in a fit of rage. "She did WHAT?"

"It seems that she has been interrogating and subduing villains by shattering their minds telepathically. There is usually nothing left." Nightwing hung his head when he finished speaking. Kaldur was almost out, but M'gann made sure he may never recover from what she did.

"That may be my fault." Dick and Artemis snapped to the right to see Connor standing in the doorway. Realizing their surprise the demi-Kryptonian explained his presence. "Super-hearing, heard everything when I walked by." Connor pushed himself from his position and began walking to join the two heroes, but had one another note to add. "And Nightwing, you and me are going have a serious conversation about trust when this is done."

Kon-El stepped into the communication platform with his teammates and gave Artemis a quick hug. While everyone was stunned to see the Kryptonian showing legitimate emotion he began to further explain his opening comment. "Nightwing is right about M'gann. She's been misusing her power for a long time. I tried to get her to stop, but it clearly didn't work."

"Connor, why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Canary was the first Leaguer to respond.

"I was scared." Connor hesitated for a moment before elaborating. "When we were still together she tried to wipe my mind. I thought if I told anyone that it would set her off. You know how powerful she is."

Connor's revelation left everyone in the room speechless. They certainly didn't need to be reminded how much M'gann's powers had grown over the years. Even J'onn had nothing left to teach her. The fact that she could have gone so far off the rails was troubling to say the least.

"We will deal with Miss Martian later, but why keep this mission a secret from the League?" Captain Atom had taken the reigns of the meeting for the time being.

"To keep Kaldur safe I couldn't let anyone know. I only let Artemis and Wally in on it when we faked her death. I never even told Batman about it."

After Nightwing finished speaking no one had anything to add. The fact that Batman's protégé had taken such a risk was shocking to say the least. Captain Atom finally got things back on track. "Nightwing, we'll discuss your actions when Batman gets back from Rimbor. But first we need to tackle the matter at hand. You mentioned that something happened to the new team?"

"I did. While they were extracting Artemis and Kaldur from the Greenland base Sigma Squad's leader, Jim, was fatally injured. He sacrificed himself to save the rest of the team."

This new information did not sit well with anyone at all. In the span of a few minutes they found out that Kaldur'ahm wasn't a traitor, Artemis never died, M'gann had possibly gone rogue, and that a member of their newest team had been killed in the line of duty.

"How are they holding up?" Canary had gotten to know the kids well over the past few weeks and was devastated to hear the news. She could only imagine what was going through their minds at the moment.

"Hard to say. I only had a chance to talk to Cameron. He seemed pretty shaken up."

"I'm coming down there when we're done. This isn't something there just going to move past."

"I know." Nightwing wanted to finish this meeting as soon as possible. "Atom, I think you should put out the Omega-level alert based on the intel we've gathered so far. Tell everyone to gather at the Hall for supplies and assignments."

"I agree. Once we're finished here I'll head up to the command center."

"Ok, if there is nothing else we're done for the night. Nightwing out."

After Nightwing severed the connection he prepared himself for what was to come. Despite that, he wasn't quite ready for Connor to pick him up by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the nearest wall.

Superboy spoke in a low growling tone that barely hid the rage he felt. "If you ever pull something like that again, we won't be having this conversation. Understand?" He tossed Nightwing to the ground and walked about the room.

Artemis helped Nightwing to his feet. "So what now?"

"Now we try to survive what's coming."

* * *


	18. Aftermaht - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the League attempts to come up with a strategy for the invasion, they are surprised when the Hall of Justice comes under attack.

* * *

**Hall of Justice  
** **April 18 – 10:00 p.m.**

While Nightwing was reporting the situation to the Justice League, Cameron was slowly making his way to the lounge where he had told the team to meet. Truth be told he wasn't quite sure what exactly he was going to say to them all, if any of them even showed up, but he felt he should at least say something considering what had just happened. Cameron had some experience dealing with the death. His father had been killed by mortar fire in Afghanistan just before he turned 17. It had taken him a while, but he had managed to move on from that loss, but he wasn't sure how the members of the team would respond and he doubted that under the threat of an invasion that they would get the time they needed to grieve. As he thought through all of this, he found himself reaching his destination, but he didn't expect Maya to be standing outside the room as though she was waiting for him.

"There a reason you're standing out here?" Cameron's tone suggested he was not in the mood for their usual banter.

Maya was silent for a moment before she asked a question. "You have no idea what you are going to say, do you?"

Her question caused Cameron shake his head in laughter, which surprised Maya to say the least. She looked at the young man quizzically before he straightened to catch his breath. "We really have gotten to know each other well, haven't we?"

"I suppose that is true to some extent."

"Don't suppose you've got any advice one what I should say?"

"Nothing earth-shattering I assure you. Only that Jim, as you know, was not a man of many words. I would suggest you speak in such a manner as well."

Cameron mulled over the advice from the ex-assassin. "Not bad, not bad at all. I take it you've dealt with this before?"

Apparently Cameron's inquiry brought up unpleasant feelings for Maya, who nodded solemnly as her dark green eyes took on a hint of sadness. "When I was young I was a witness to many deaths." Maya's voice turned harsh as she continued. "My family and friends were cut down in front of me while I went on to serve their murderer."

Cameron had immediately felt guilty when he saw what his words brought out in Maya. He closed the difference between the two and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You told me you were only a kid when that happened and what they did to you was beyond wrong." Cameron nudged her chin upward with his hand so theirs eyes could meet. "And Ra's is going get what's coming to him: I promise."

Maya regained her composure as Cameron talked, even going so far as to smile slightly as she imagined the two of them hunting down her former master. "Don't make a girl a promise you can't keep Cameron. Not even Batman has been able to successfully capture Ra's."

Cameron was not deterred, only smiling himself. "If I make a promise, I keep it. It's just the kind of stand-up guy I am, thought you'd have figured that out by now. Now, what'd you say we get through this?"

Maya nodded as Cameron opened the door to the lounge. The duo walked in to find the other six members of the team present and accounted for. Penny, Avery, and Tom were seated on the big couch. Penny was consoling Tom, who had been the last to find out about their friend's passing. Colton had an arm around Chase as they sat on the loveseat. Sam was sitting alone in a chair slightly away from the rest of the group as she stared dejectedly at the blank TV screen. They were all so lost in their thoughts that most of them didn't notice Cameron and Maya enter the room. Avery was the only one to comment on their arrival.

"You know, if Jim were here he'd probably made a crack about the two of you walking in together."

Cameron chuckled at the comment. "Yeah, he certainly would have. And, of course, Chase and Colton wouldn't have been spared either."

Chase nodded in silent agreement, but Colton felt like reminiscing in a more verbal fashion. "He did love to dish out the crap, didn't he?"

"I still can't believe he used to work for the CIA!" Tom had managed to calm himself down.

"He wasn't half bad, for a spook." Sam's comment drew a few chuckles from the team

The team's small bit of laughter was cut short as Hawkeye had caught them off guard with his unannounced entrance. "Sorry for barging in. I was told to check in on you guys."

Hawkeye eyed Cameron, as though the veteran hero was thinking deeply about something. Finally he turned and tapped into the computer screen next to the door frame.

He saw that the team was confused by his actions. "Oh, I just turned off the cameras for a second. Nightwing definitely wouldn't like this if he saw what I was going to do."

Hawkeye motioned for the team to follow him to the mini-kitchen that was in the same room. They all took seats in the stools around the island as Hawkeye rummaged through the cupboards.

"Aha!" Hawkeye emerged carrying a bottle of something and several small glasses. He set it down to grab some milk from the fridge and poured glasses of the white substance before passing them around to the younger members of the team.

"You three are just about 18, right?" Hawkeye nodded in the direction of Avery, Cameron, and Maya. When the three nodded their affirmation he asked another question. "Feel like something a little stronger?"

Maya declined, but Avery and Cameron accepted. Hawkeye then poured out three small amounts of a brown liquid and slid the glasses around the table to the appropriate team members, keeping one for himself.

"That's Red Arrow's scotch, just to give you two a heads up. If he asks, I did not take any of it. Not that alcohol would affect me anyway, but I think you get the point."

Everyone remained silent, which prompted Hawkeye to say a few words. "Look, I get what you are going through. Death and I have a very intimate relationship, maybe someday I'll tell you just what that's all about, but what is important right now is that you all stay strong." Hawkeye nudged Cameron, silently telling the younger man to speak up.

Cam took the hint and hopped of the stool, choosing to stand. "We all know that Jim wouldn't have wanted some fancy speech from anyone of us. I just want you all to know that we _are_ going to get through this, together. We're going to keep fighting, because that's exactly what he would have done if he was still here." Cameron grabbed his glass and raised it high. "To Jim."

The others in the room followed suit and echoed Cameron's statement. "To Jim."

The silence returned for a few moments before Penny spoke up. "So what now?"

"Now, we all should go get some sleep." Penny got up off her stool before speaking in as happy a tone as she could muster under the circumstance. "See you all in the morning!"

One by one the others left the room, until only Cameron, Maya, and Hawkeye remained. The other two members of Sigma Squad were about to leave as well, but were held up.

"I've got something to run by you two before you head off for the night."

"Sure, what's up Hawkeye?"

"Just call me Thomas, Cameron. It's normally what I'd want you to call me, but it gets confusing when Tom is in the same room. What I want to say is something that does not leave this room, it's actually the real reason I shut off the cameras. Nightwing and I have been thinking about what's going to happen once we actually beat back this invasion."

"What do you mean by that? Wouldn't things just go back to normal?"

"Would they though? Perhaps Maya could offer some insight into what I'm getting at?"

"Well, I have been attempting to catch up on the news since our captivity and there seems to be a marked rise in anti-hero sentiment. It was like that even before I was captured."

Cameron thought back over all the news he had watched before and after he was captured. He couldn't argue with Maya's assessment. Particularly, G. Gordon Godfrey had been riling up a lot of people against the heroes of the world.

"Even if that's the case, what's Nightwing going to do about it?"

"Well that's the thing Cam, we don't know what exactly is going to happen, but our fearless leader and yours truly have a few scenarios planned for."

"Such as?" Maya wanted Thomas to get to the point as soon as possible.

"Well, something similar happened to the Justice Society was back in the day. The government tried getting all of them to register after WWII, but it ultimately failed due to public opinion being on the side of the heroes. Nightwing's worried that they might try again and that they'd actually be successful this time around. As you've already mentioned, the people aren't exactly our biggest fans right now."

Though Cameron could see where Thomas was going with the conversation, he was unable to believe it was true. "But that's only part of the problem isn't it? Would the government really turn on us?"

"If it were solely made up of duly elected people, then I'd say it's a toss-up. But one of our enemies is a 50,000 immortal. I wouldn't put it past Vandal Savage to have had agents in our government since it's very founding, let alone today."

There was a particular anger that flared when Thomas mentioned Savage's name, one that Cameron readily noticed. "What's your beef with Savage?"

Thomas poured himself another glass of scotch and downed it before answering. "The bastard kidnapped, experimented, and cloned me. Not to mention killing my family to tie up all the loose ends. So it's not so much a 'beef' as it as is a burning desire to slice his throat. Not that it'd do any good since he truly can't be killed."

"Why did he do these things?" Maya was at the sink filling up a glass of water when she pressed Thomas for more information.

"Savage has always been about advancing humanity. He's little speech that we caught on the Watchtower five years ago suggested that he wanted to instigate some kind of conflict that would force humanity to either defend itself or die. He's a smart guy. Humanity would undoubtedly have to become much stronger to win, but he didn't plan on losing to the sidekicks. Thanks to Kaldur we know that he's engineered this invasion for a very long time, ever since Blue Beetle's scarab showed up in Egypt around 5,000 B.C."

"What, how could you possibly know that?"

"Simple. Every hieroglyph depiction of the pharaoh at the time of the scarab's emergence bears a distinct similarity to one Vandal Savage."

Cameron and Maya looked at each other as they digested all the information Thomas had presented. While Cameron was more confused than anything, Maya was only interested in one thing.

"Why are you telling this to us?"

A playful smile swept across Thomas's face "So glad you asked Maya. What I'm doing is taking precautions in case things go south. That entails putting together a team that can go dark until things settle. For most of the League, and this team, their absence will be noted by other members of Society. Also, their hero personas are just too well recognized by the Government and the general public. I myself have been kept under lock and key by Batman ever since joining this team, just about four years ago. Maya, you don't even exist in any database and Cameron, you've basically been missing for over two months."

"So you're basically that saying we're nobodies." Cameron didn't like Thomas's assessment of the situation.

"That isn't a bad thing. The rest of your team isn't prime candidates for the job for many reasons, whether they be for personality characteristics, family ties, or experience. You two meet everything I'm looking for in this team. So far I've got the list narrowed to you guys and maybe one or two more to start with. They'll be here in the morning if you'd care to accompany me to the meet and greet. I'd understand if you want to pass, I know this is probably a little overwhelming right now. Hit me up tomorrow if you're up for it."

On his way out the door Thomas re-engaged the camera system and left Cameron and Maya sitting alone in the kitchen, conveniently with Roy's bottle of scotch.

* * *

**April 19 – 7:45 a.m.**

The next morning greeted Cameron rudely. His head was pounded even before he opened his eyes. There was an ache in his back, which suggested to him that he'd spent the night in a less than comfortable position. Braving the lighted world, Cameron slowly opened his eyes to find himself still in the lounge, but now he was on the couch. He grabbed his head and it continued to throb just as a voice drew his attention to the chair near his feet.

"You are quite lucky that Sam was not the first person to wake you. I believe you may have died from the pain if that were the case." There was an obvious hint of humor in Maya's voice, who was seated in the chair, watching the news.

"I just might do that anyway." Cameron struggled, but managed to climb into a seated position. "What the hell happened?"

Maya turned her head slightly toward Cameron. "You consumed copious amounts of alcohol and became quite inebriated."

Cameron waited for Maya to continue, but he realized that she was done. "Why did you let me do that?"

"We were speaking about a variety of subjects I found interesting. I did not notice your behavior until it was too late. I apologize."

"No need for that, though I got to ask: why am I on the couch and why are you still here?"

Maya smirked slightly after Cameron's question. "I did consider carrying you to your bed, but felt that would not be wise. As to your latter question, I did not believe you should be left to your own devices."

"I'd normally have a really cool reply that would insinuate you stayed because you liked me, but I won't go there, because my head hurts."

"I have no doubt that, were you not hung-over, we would have had a stimulating argument. Now that you are awake I suggest you get something to eat in the mess hall."

Maya got up to leave, but paused slightly as Cameron called after her. "Want to come with me?"

* * *

The rest of the team gathered in the mess hall eating breakfast. No one was particularly talkative or hungry, but Sam at the very least had something to say.

"I just don't know if I want to keep doing this."

"What, you mean leave?" Avery hadn't expected that reaction of Sam.

"Maybe, I was just thinking about some things last night." The team again lapsed into silence for the other had a similar experience during the night. Jim's death had caused many of them to question lots of things; being a hero chiefly among them.

"Well, I'm staying." Colton spoke quickly before biting into his cereal.

Before anyone could follow up with Colton's declaration they all noticed the entrance of their two oldest teammates. Cameron was looking particularly haggard, despite the fact that they knew that he was not a morning person on a good day. What was most intriguing was that the duo entered at the same time. As the pair went to get some food the team quickly shifted the focus of their conversation.

"You think they finally did it last night?" Tom was the first to speak. At first everyone was a little shocked that he'd said anything. After hearing about Jim, the young teen had refused to talk to anyone. Only after they fully processed what he said did they react.

"Nah, looks like he got drunk and passed out." Chase was certainly an expert on the "hung-over look". Being the granddaughter of a city preacher meant she saw a lot of men stumble into the church after some late night stupidity.

The chatter ceased as the topic of their conversation seated themselves at the table. "Good morning. Oh, before I start eating I'm supposed to mention that Canary wants to meet with all of us after dinner."

"You should probably take some Tylenol first, wouldn't want her getting wind of your extra-curricular activities."

Cameron chuckled along with the rest at Chase's comment. "Shut up Chase."

* * *

**12:15 p.m.**

Nightwing had ventured into the Hall of Justice's mess hall for some food and had barely sat down when a very paranoid-looking Bart ran into the room and sat down next to him.

"Nightwing we need to talk."

"Can it wait Bart? I'm eating."

When Bart didn't reply Nightwing looked over to the speedster. The dead seriousness in the boy's eyes caused Nightwing to stand up and motion for Bart to follow him into the hallway.

"So, what's up?"

"Um, I'm not quite sure how to say this without bringing about time-ending paradoxes, but things are different!"

"What do you mean by that Bart?"

"Ever since these new guys have shown up I've tried racking my brain to remember who they were and when I came up with nothing I figured that maybe it was just my crappy memory in history class, but then I remembered something."

"What Bart? What did you remember?"

Bart hesitated to respond. He knew he wasn't supposed to tell anyone why he came back, but things were more serious than anyone realized and not even he knew what would happen next.

"What I came back to stop is happening way different than it was supposed to!"

"How can you tell?"

"It's like this. My memories are changing based on how event happen in this new timeline I made by going back in time. Whatever happens from here on out directly influences my experiences and is actively changing my memories in real time. I know it sounds confusing, trust me, it's literally making my brain hurt."

"Why is any of this important now?"

"Because of how my memories have changed since the last mission. What I came back to stop is happening now!"

Jamie had turned the corner just before the two's last exchange. "What?!"

* * *

**12:10 p.m.**

Cameron's headache had subsided and he felt like a human being again. He was currently on his way to a quick meeting with Hawkeye before heading to what he assumed would be a team therapy session with Black Canary. He was a little surprised that Hawkeye had wanted to meet in the armory, but when he thought about he realized that it was probably one of the most secure rooms in the facility. Just as he reached the doorway he found Maya approaching from the opposite end of the hallway.

"You know, we really have to stop meeting like this." Maya's confused expression caused Cameron to laugh as he opened the door. "Ladies first."

"Shouldn't talk about yourself like that, newbie." An unfamiliar voice greeted the pair as they entered the armory.

Cameron looked at the two new faces and decided the insult came from the man in some kind of red helmet. "Says the guy wearing a red condom on his head."

The helmeted figure let out a laugh. "Oh we're going to get along great."

"Well that would depend on me actually know your name."

"Call me Hood, Red Hood. The mute fellow to my left is known as Arsenal."

Maya immediately noticed something off the man known as Arsenal. "You look like Red Arrow's younger brother."

"I'm the original."

"Excuse me?"

"He's my clone. That enough of an explanation for you?"

Arsenal's menacing tone was cut off as Hawkeye entered the room. "I see you're all getting acquainted. Good."

But before he could speak about anything else the whole base was rocked by an earth-shattering explosion. Maya fell into a rack of guns. Cameron braced himself against a table. Hawkeye stumbled against the wall while Red Hood and Arsenal bumped into each other to maintain their balance. When the rumbling ceased they heard their communicator's buzz to life.

" _This is Nightwing. We've been attacked by hostile forces. The zeta-tube has been destroyed! Everyone, head to the vehicle bay for evacuation!"_

The heroes all looked at each other before racing to action. Taking advantage of the surroundings, all except for Hawkeye, grabbed their weapons and tools to ready themselves for a fight. Cameron stopped when he noticed something about Red Hood that hadn't clicked in his head until now.

"You're the guy Nightwing said I reminded him of."

Red Hood paused at the mention of Nightwing. "Yeah, and you're point?"

"Just making an observation."

"Could you do that after we get out of here?"

Cameron pulled back the slide on his pistols to chamber the first round from the clips. "Sure, assuming we actually do get out of here that is."

"Kid, do you even know how to use those things?"

Cameron just replied with a smile. "I guess you'll just find out."

Now fully armored up, the five heroes barreled through the halls as Hawkeye attempted to contact people still in the facility.

"Nightwing, this is Hawkeye. What's your location? I'm with Hood, Arsenal, Colt and Renegade. We just left the armory and are headed to the launch bay."

" _Jesus, Hawkeye, you didn't think to radio me sooner?_ "

"What? We got a little busy, so sue me! Now where do you need us?"

" _I need you to split up and clear the barracks. Once you've done that, I need you to get to the captured Reach ship. That's your exit. You've got 7 minutes to get the job done and get the hell out of here!"_

"You set the anti-matter self-destruct didn't you?"

" _I did._ "

Hawkeye clicked off his communicator. "Well shit, that sucks."

Hawkeye's last question to Nightwing worried the others. "What exactly is an anti-matter self-destruct?"

"Basically, it will destroy this entire building without leaving any fallout. It's not exactly an anti-matter explosion; it just uses anti-matter in the process and its way easier to say than its actual name."

"Oh, because that just clears it all right up."

"Arsenal, would you shut up? Hood: you, Arsenal and I will take the East barracks. Renegade and Colt will take the West. We'll meet at the ship in 6 minutes."

The team of five quickly split as Hawkeye ordered. Cameron and Maya bolted to the West barracks, hoping to run into their teammates. They decided to take the route through the mess hall as it was quickest. When they reached it they found Canary fighting several Reach soldiers while Green Arrow was firing arrows down the hall to keep more soldiers from entering the room. Both League members snapped their heads around as three loud cracks were heard from Cameron's pistol. Three Reach soldiers quickly fell to the ground. Maya tossed a shuriken down the hall and struck an unsuspecting alien who had been attempting to sneak down the hall when Green Arrow's back turned.

After GA and Canary headed to the vehicle bay Maya and Cameron continued to their location until they ran smack into a group of Reach soldiers at an intersection. They were ready for a right until from out of nowhere they felt an intense blast of heat followed quickly by a torrent of flame from behind the soldiers. The two shielded themselves from the blaze and by the time they looked to see the aftermath they found Tom and the rest of Sigma Squad standing over the unconscious bodies of about a dozen aliens.

"Huh, so I guess they do breath oxygen. Wasn't sure if burning off the air in your force field would actually work."

Colton slapped the young boy on the back. "Not bad Tom. Just goes to show that teamwork is definitely a good thing."

Maya made her and Cameron's presence known. "Well it seems you are managing just fine. Is the wing clear?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Cameron stepped in to fill the team in on the situation. "We need to book it too the launch bay. This place is going to be non-existent in a few minutes!"

The team made good time to the vehicle bay, reaching it with just over one minute until the self-destruct went off.

"Avery, get this bird ready for takeoff. We need to be ready to roll when Hawkeye and his squad get here."

"Roger that. But it's not this is a plug and play. I need to power the flight systems up, give me about 30 seconds."

Just as Avery began firing up the systems Hawkeye and his band of three burst through a door and slammed it shut behind them.

"That bird better be ready Sigma! This door isn't going to hold too long and we've only got 40 seconds!"

Cameron leaned out of the craft to yell back. "Just move your asses then!"

Cameron watched as the three ran toward the ship. He felt relief that they were all going to make it out this situation alive and in one piece. The feeling didn't last long as a hulking red creature burst through the door that Hawkeye had sealed behind him. Fragments of the door ripped into Hood's calf, making Hawkeye and Arsenal drag him toward the craft. The creature, who wasn't too dissimilar from Blue Beetle, was getting close to the craft when Cameron knew that they weren't going to make it out if he didn't do something.

He jumped out of the ship and over Hawkeye's head, putting himself between the alien and the ship. While the team got Red Hood aboard Cameron was busy blasting away at the alien, but his shots were only bouncing off his armor. Ceasing his fire Cameron ejected a clip and loaded a new one, this time the shots managed too penetrated the alien tech.

"Promethium rounds. Got to love League ammo."

With the beast stunned Cameron turned to run back to the ship, but was caught in a blast of the alien's sound cannon. Lying on the ground he looked at the countdown clock on the wall before making eye contact with Maya. "Get out of here!"

_5_

The alien grabbed Cameron by the legs and held his held up the arm cannon. "Pathetic human."

_4  
_

Someone in the ship, Cameron figured it was Hawkeye, got the ship airborne while closing the exterior hatch.

_3_

Cameron closed his eyes, resigning himself to the inevitable. He just hoped the team made it clear in time.

_2_

Cameron opened his eyes to see the team escaping out into the daylight.

_1_

A flash of red and blue streaked into his vision while the arm cannon of the alien hummed and glowed ominously.

_0_

* * *


	19. Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Hall of Justice is destroyed, the survivors evacuate to Watchtower

* * *

**Hall of Justice – 12:25 p.m.**

_5_

The alien grabbed Cameron by the legs and held his held up the arm cannon. "Pathetic human."

_4  
_

Someone in the ship, Cameron figured it was Hawkeye, got the ship airborne while closing the exterior hatch.

_3_

Cameron closed his eyes, resigning himself to the inevitable. He just hoped the team made it clear in time.

_2_

Cameron opened his eyes to see the team escaping out into the daylight.

_1_

A flash of red and blue streaked into his vision while the arm cannon of the alien hummed and glowed ominously.

_0_

The Hall of Justice flashed briefly in a blinding burst of blue. Thankfully the building had been closed the public, but there were several onlookers along the sidewalk opposite. The structure shook for a moment, even down to the underground tunnels. And within a single second the public face of the Justice League imploded in on itself, leaving a deep scar in the earth. Anyone inside the building had been instantly vaporized, with no trace of their existence remaining.

Cameron had watched from the roof of nearby building. It wasn't until after the explosion, if you could even call it that had occurred that he turned to his rescuers. He'd assumed that the red and blue blur had been Impulse and Beetle, but when he turned to face his rescuer his jaw quickly hit the metaphorical floor. Before him stood the awe-inspiring sight of the one only Superman.

Cameron's gaze quickly moved to the strange green craft that was parked on the roof as well, but what really drew his attention was the collection of the world's mightiest heroes. The Hawks, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Icon, and Martian Manhunter were all visible within the craft, but one man had made his way to where Superman and Cameron stood. The stare of the Dark Knight burrowed into what Cameron felt was his very soul. When Batman's deep voice reached his ears Cameron had to suppress a slight shiver of nervousness.

"What were you doing in the Hall of Justice? I don't recall ever giving authorization to you."

"Uh, Batman, shouldn't you have led with who he is?" Superman was a little puzzled with Batman's approach to the matter.

"I already know who he is. This is Cameron Spear, a hyper-kinetic. He was on my radar for about 7 months before we left." Batman inspected the boy. "It seems things have certainly changed since our last check in with the League. Considering that was two months ago, I'm not surprised. We need to get to Watchtower."

"Isn't he a security risk? And why can't we contact Watchtower from here?"

"In the event that someone breached the Hall of Justice, all communication with Watchtower is cut-off to prevent any remote hacking of our systems, and while I never tested the destruct sequence, I assume that much energy has disrupted communications even further." Batman finished answering Superman's questions before turning his attention back to Cameron. "What happened to Mount Justice? It was supposed to be our meeting point with our protégés."

"I-I don't know."

"Who gave your access to the Hall?"

Cameron swallowed hard, still a little shocked to being in the presence of the World's Finest after nearly getting blown to kingdom come. "Uh, I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was Nightwing. Maybe Captain Atom, like I said, not really sure."

There were no further questions as Batman and Superman turned to walk back to the green ship. Superman glanced back at Cameron, who had remained rooted to the spot. "You coming?"

* * *

Aboard the repurposed Reach craft the remaining seven members of Sigma Squad all sat in silence. They had just begun to accept Jim's death, and now Cameron had followed in the man's footsteps to keep the team safe. After having the base attacked and barely escaping with their lives had left them all physically drained, even too tired to truly feel the magnitude of Cam's apparent sacrifice. To make matters worse, they couldn't contact any other League members. Avery had tried in vain, but the loss of the Hall of Justice had seriously disrupted the communication network. There was doubt it would eventually be restored, but until that time the team was on their own. At least, that's what the team assumed until Hawkeye made his way to the cockpit.

"Avery, I'm going to feed some coordinates to the computer, make for there as fast as you can."

Avery saw that the coordinate were in orbit around the planet. "What are we going there for?"

"Watchtower."

Hawkeye's one word answer drew the attention of everyone present within the confines of the ship. During their weeks of training they'd heard a bunch of Leaguers reference the place, but none of them had any details about the true nature of the place. The only other hero in the ship who wasn't surprised was Red Hood as he, in his Robin days, had once been granted access to the top-secret satellite. It came as no shock that the location would be Hawkeye's first choice to fly toward. Hood was also one of the few in the younger generation of heroes that actually knew of Hawkeye's situation and relationship with the League. It definitely paid to be a member of the Bat family, even if you were at best an estranged brother.

Sam was seated in the back of the craft along with the rest of the team, minus Avery. To no one in particular she asked the question on everyone's mind. "What are we going to do know?"

"I don't know Sam, I just don't know." Maya never looked at Sam when she answered. Her gaze was fixed firmly on the ground with her head hung low. Out of all them, she just might be the most emotionally compromised, which wasn't something she would ever admit to. And even with all her experience and training, she was truly lost.

The passengers aboard the ship all sat in somber silence as the craft sailed toward their destination.

* * *

Cameron quickly got into the green spaceship feeling a little overwhelmed. Not only had he just averted death by a hair's breadth, but know he was in a ship packed to the brim with Justice League members. As he passed them on his way to the rear they all gave him a cursory glance, but made no attempt to speak with him. He sat in his seat just as the craft shot into the sky. In mere moments he was shocked to see the sky fall away to reveal the darkness beyond it. He only marveled for a moment until he saw where the ship was headed, a vast object of some kind. To the young man it looked like a cross between a satellite and an asteroid. When they neared he noticed a very familiar ship slowly flying into a large bay door, and he felt the ship follow the same course just behind them.

* * *

Once Avery set the ship down the members of Sigma Squad remained rooted to their seats as Hawkeye, Red Hood, and Arsenal all exited the ship.

"You think Nightwing's going to want us to fight?" Tom spoke timidly, unsure whether he'd prefer a yes or no answer to the question.

"Sure as hell hope he does, those bastards are going to get what's coming to them." Colton slammed a fist down on his leg. "They made it personal."

"I just don't know how he can ask that. We've lost two people already. Who's next?" Penny's question went unanswered. Silence retook the team until the heard a voice from the outside of the ship.

"Hey, you guys gonna mope all day in there or what? We got a world to save you know!"

All seven heads snapped up and looked at each other, everyone nearly certain they must be hearing things. Tom was the first to move to the door. The others watched as his face lit up with joy. "Cameron!"

Following the boy's outburst the rest followed his footsteps and gasped when they saw Cameron laughing hysterically.

"You guy's should see the look on your faces right now! I'm going to have Nightwing get me the screencaps off the security footage. Priceless!"

Now fully certain that their friend and teammate was not a hallucination of their grief ridden minds they all bounded down the exit ramp. Everyone, except Maya, who stood in the threshold of the door watching as her team gathered around Cameron and began questioning how he had managed to escape. Just as Cameron finished his tale of how he got to meet the Justice League a voice rang over the loudspeakers, it sounded distinctly like a cowboy right down the southern accent.

" _All personnel, report to briefing room, double time. First timers, follow green lights on the ground, they'll point you where you need to go."_

Cameron looked at his team, a smile still on his face. "Alright, you all heard the man." He spotted Maya leaning up against the doorframe of the ship. "You guys go ahead, I'll meet you there."

Avery and Chase looked back and forth between Cameron and Maya before rolling their eyes at Cam's not so subtly hidden attempt to speak with Maya alone. When the rest of the team was out of ear shot Maya walked down the exit ramp.

Cameron smirked as she neared him, stopping less than a foot away from him. "What, no hug for your fearless leader?"

Maya's deadpan stare made Cameron try again. "You're right, I'm thinking a handshake may be more your style."

When she still didn't respond Cameron grew slightly frustrated. "How 'bout a 'Hello, glad to see you aren't dead.'?"

Maya lunged toward, delivering a quick but powerful kiss right on the lips. Then she slapped him. "That's making me think you died."

Cameron was stunned into silence as he watched Maya follow after the rest of the team. He definitely hadn't been expecting that.

* * *

While Sigma Squad was reuniting on the hangar deck, Batman and the rest of the Justice League members who left made their way to the conference room. There they met the rest of the League and Nightwing, who had brought a special guest along with him.

Batman didn't need to know why the kid was there, he trusted Dick to have a good reason for his presence, but he had another question for his first protégé. "Who is this?"

Nigthwing gestured to the small teen beside him. "This is Bart Allen, a.k.a Impulse. As some of you are already aware, he is Flash's grandson from the future. He's got intel for us."

Nightwing nudged Impulse, who began filling in the League in on his situation. Forty years from, the world has nearly been destroyed. All the heroes are dead, maimed, or in hiding. The reason for this is happening right now, the Reach invasion."

As if on cue, various screens opened along the table, showing the movements of several Reach craft and the global news feeds. The headline on most channels went something along the lines of, _Hall of Justice destroyed: unknown if any survivors. Reach craft now spotted over major cities worldwide._ So far, the Reach ships hadn't attacked yet, but everyone present knew that would change.

Bart resumed his speech. "The Reach invaded, killing most heroes in the first few days." He pointed to the founding six members and those that left with them. "You were still off planet when it happened in my timeline. By the time you got back, you were to outnumbered to fight, until only Superman was left. They'd managed to destroy the atmosphere, cutting off all the sunlight to the planet, and even he was killed."

The room was quite for a few seconds as Bart paused, the enormity of his words sinking. "When he died, so did humanity. There just wasn't any fight left. They herded us into camps and put us to work mining the planet for resources. My family managed to escape and found a group of resistance fighters led by a man that was called The Demon. He wanted to attack the enemy, but there was a scientist there who was working on a way to time travel. Eventually he made it work and I came back. I thought that it was the assassination of Flash that started everything, but it didn't work."

"How do you know that?" Wonder Woman was confused by the teen's logic.

"If it had, I would have just disappeared. There wouldn't have been a reason to me to have come back once the invasion was permanently stopped. Maybe I wouldn't even have existed in the future. This is all theory, thinking about too much gives me a headache."

Superman was focused in on something Bart had mentioned earlier. "Wait, you said the invasion happened while we were still off planet?"

Bart nodded. "Yeah, but I think when I came back I've been changing things a lot more than I thought. It started with saving Flash, which I did on purpose, but I now I know differently. I know that Sigma Squad isn't supposed to exist, but does because Blue Beetle stopped Black Beetle in the research station, but only after I rescued him. Now the date of the invasion itself has changed drastically. Plus, the Hall of Justice is a ruin in my time. The aliens left it standing to remind us of the hero's failure."

Something clicked in Nightwing's mind. "It had to be the ship! We got into their system when Sigma Squad escaped with one of their ships, which made them stall their plans!"

Batman turned his gaze to the speedster. "Impulse, head down with the rest of your team."

Bart gave a quick nod before speeding out of the room. Batman stood to his full height and addressed the Justice League. "Let's get to work."

* * *


	20. Fallout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reach have invaded, the League moves to stop their plans. Things don't quite go according to plan.

* * *

**Watchtower  
** **April 18 – 12:45 p.m.**

Batman stood to his full height and addressed the Justice League. "Let's get to work."

Nightwing pulled up a holographic map of the world. Several locations were highlighted with red dots. "These are the locations that the Reach have either attacked or are setting up land bases." He pulled all the dots but two. "These two appear to serves as the atmosphere ruiners that Bart spoke of. They are not operational yet, but it won't take long."

"How do we know that?" Flash was curious how Nightwing had so quickly pulled together that information.

"I believe I can answer that question." The deep voice of Kaldur'ahm drew everyone's attention to the door where they saw the 'traitor' sitting in a wheelchair. In fact, the attention was so completely on him that most ignored the presence of Artemis, the one who apparently pushed Kaldur from the infirmary.

Hawkgirl had not been among the League members told about Kaldur's mission and as such immediately lept toward him, intent on striking him with her mace. She would have succeeded to, considering Kaldur was in a wheelchair, but Aquaman easily caught the blow and threw her back into her seat.

"You will not harm him, nor will any of you. Kaldur'ahm was operating as an undercover agent inside Black Manta's organization."

Wonder Woman turned to Batman and spoke in an angry tone. "Another one of your secrets?"

Batman's eyes narrowed and his eyed his protégé. "No, not one of mine. If I had to guess I would say it was Nightwing."

That admission quieted the room until Kaldur spoke. "That is not entirely the truth. The plan was partially of my conception as well. None of that is important right now. What we need to focus on is the defense of Earth. Blame and punishment can be handled when we are victorious."

Aquaman moved to stand beside his former protégé. "Kaldur'ahm is correct. We must focus our attention on the matter at hand."

"Indeed." Batman's gaze turned to the map showing the Reach invasion force. "Alright, here's the plan."

* * *

On TV screens across the planet, reports switched from the coverage of the destruction of the Hall of Justice to those of what was presumed to be hostile Reach movement. Governments around the world had launched fighters and deployed troop, but the shooting had yet to begin. One particular network was hosting a live feed from a reporter in the middle of New York.

" _This is G. Gordon Godfrey, reporting for GNN from inside New York City. It appears that our visitors, knows as the Reach, have taken a less than friendly approach to our planet. A large ship, much larger than anything previously seen has now stopped over the top of the city. God only knows what aggressive action drew their ire, but our governments have been nothing but open with us and the aliens. The only viable culprit appears to be the Justice League, who have stonewalled all attempt for comment or interview since before the Reach arrived. Quite curious indeed, wouldn't you agree? Back to you in the studio, Iris."_

" _It certainly is Gordon. We've reached out to the Justice League, but have received no reply. With the loss of the Hall of Justice we turned to Gotham Police Commissioner James Gordon, who has a long history of dealing with the vigilante known as Batman. Commisioner?"_

_The Commissioner was in no mood for an interview, even if the Mayor was demanding that he make a statement. He stared into the camera, the wind ruffling his graying hair. He stayed silent as the cameraman looked confused as to how to proceed. Within 20 seconds the light of the camera clicked off and the network cut back to the studio broadcast._

" _It seems we're experiencing some kind of technical difficulties. Rest assured we'll keep you fully up to date on all the developments happening around the world. We're actually going to kick things over to our Asian desk."_

* * *

**Indian Subcontinent**  
 **6 miles south of Mumbai  
** **1:15 p.m.**

Aboard the Reach vessel, Cameron went over the plan in his head for the third time. He and his squad had been given orders to work a two part infiltration of the Reach atmospheric disruption system located in India. His team was to fly into the base itself and plant a bomb that would incinerate the main facility. The main League force would take the other facility by force. The beta team, consisting of Superboy, Wonder Girl, Impulse and Blue Beetle, would deal with the exterior forces to draw the attention of the Reach security. Cam glanced around the interior of the ship. There were only five minutes left until beta team started causing a ruckus. By now the world had taken notice of the situation and Cameron was hoping that the local military wouldn't muck things up by sending in their own troops. If this went south, there would be a blood bath.

"Alright, let's make sure we have the plan down before heading in. It's mostly the same as last time, but I want us to be sure of what we're doing. Tric, care to start us off?"

Sam nodded. "Our first priority is to get inside undetected; this is going to be a lot easier if we're not being shot at until we're on the way out."

Penny spoke up next. "After we're down. Shadow will enclose the seven of us as we exit the ship. Forge will be staying behind to monitor the Reach networks."

Avery's voice drifted back from the pilot's chair. "Yeah, I'll keep the engines hot and have an eye on the security feeds. Wouldn't want you guys turning a corner and running smack into a patrol or something."

"Yeah, that would be bad." Tom was little nervous about going on his first mission since the training exercise.

Colton chuckled softly. "It certainly would be, Nitro. Don't worry; Forge will keep the baddies off our backs."

Chase felt the need to add in a quick, _too bad that didn't quite work for Jim_ , but thought better of it. "Yeah, we'll be fine. We'll get in, plant the bomb, and get out while Superboy and Beta Team are dishing out the hurt against their ground and air forces. Besides, if we get in a jam they'll be able to get us out."

Tom smiled to himself at the thought of the more experienced heroes being on hand to help them if they needed it.

Maya remained silent as she sat across the ship from Cameron. She stole a few glances at him throughout the ride, but for the most part kept all social interaction to a minimum. She might have done something extreme earlier by kissing Cameron, which undoubtedly would greatly alter their relationship, but now she was on a mission and she took it upon herself to quadruple check the bomb that they were given by the League. It was actually a deployable version of the Hall of Justice's self-destruct mechanism, meaning it could obliterate the target without any residual fallout as long as the proper coordinates were set. In truth, it was the only one the League had due to the rarity of the elements used in its construction. If the radius was too big then it could cause a lot of problems for the area population. Maya tried not think of the consequences if the data Nightwing put into the device was incorrect.

As Maya ran through the arming sequence, Avery brought the ship in. Instead of direct infiltration, like last time, the team would be dropping in using the cloaking system. She was silently glad that they wouldn't be attempting the same trick twice.

"We're down. Move out!" Cameron's orders had everyone on their feet and lining up behind Colton. At the latter's nod, the team exited the craft as quickly as possible to lessen the time the interior was exposed from the gap in the cloaking mechanism. As soon as they were clear Avery closed the ship up to wait for the team's return.

After Colton had moved the team covertly to a safe point Cameron radioed Avery. " _Forge, this is Colt. We're in position._

" _Acknowledged, I'll call out turns and patrols as you go."_

" _Copy that, Colt out."_

Like their last mission, Avery guided the team into the base. She had successfully managed to not get them lost, nor let them run into any enemy patrols. Despite the apparent ease with which the mission was proceeding, something must have spooked the team's tech expert.

" _Uh, guys? You might want to hurry up. I think they know we're here."_

" _Forge, this is Renegade. How can you be certain?"_

" _The guards in the launch bay have changed their pattern, their actively searching all the landing pads. They must know we have a cloak; they're walking all over the place. This ship might be invisible, but they'll still bump into it if they're looking."_

Cameron digested this new information before adjusting the plan. " _Forge, I'm sending Shadow, Nitro, and Polaris back to you in case things get dicey."_

" _Roger that Colt. Tell 'em to make it snappy."_

Cameron cut his radio as he turned to the team. "Ok you three. Shadow, I want to stay invisible and take out any guards that get near the ship. Our cover can't be blown until we plant that bomb. Nitro, Shadow will move you to the ship, you are stay onboard to protect Avery at all costs. Polaris, you'll hang back in cover and help Shadow move any bodies. Understood?"

The three all nodded. "Good, then move out. Radio back when you're on station."

Cameron, Maya, and Sam all watched their teammates head back toward the ship. Sam grew nervous as their force had just been split in half. As the trio followed Avery's instructions deeper into the facility the doubt grew until she felt the need to ask a harrowing question. "What did you mean about our cover not being blown until after we set the bomb? You didn't mention until after we're airborne."

"Tric, that's because the only thing that matters is getting that bomb set and making sure it goes off, whatever the cost." Cameron's response had a grim finality to them, which Sam knew not to challenge.

The team stopped after running for another couple of minutes.

"Cover me while I arm the device."

Maya opened what appeared to be a supply closet and dropped to the ground. She pulled the football-sized cylinder out of her bag. She pressed three buttons and stood up to shut the door.

"Let's move."

The three broke out into a run along their previous path. " _Forge, bomb is armed; we're en route to evac."_

The response was static. " _Forge? This is Colt, respond!"_ More silence. _"Respond!"_

Cameron, Sam, and Maya all shared a look of apprehension before each tried to raise any of the other members of their team.

" _Shadow, Tric. If you can hear me, respond!"_

" _Polaris, are you and the others under fire?"_

" _Nitro, Colt here. I need you to respond if you can."_

Static crackled over the frequency. All three ran harder, fear rapidly become the driving force of their actions. They had almost reached the landing bay when the weak voice of Tom was heard over the radio, causing them to momentarily cease their run.

" _Cam, I…I tried…too…ma…"_ Pain had been evident in the young teen's voice before the silence returned. The remaining members of Sigma Squad resumed their all-out sprint to the ship. What they saw stopped even the stone cold ex-assassin of the group dead in her tracks. The area around the ship was scorched black, likely from Tom's ability. More troubling was Tom's limp arm hanging out the ship's open door. There were well over a dozen Reach soldiers strewn around the ground. One of the Reach's super soldiers, this one a massive black beetle, was using his right arm to furiously beat against a force field Colton had created to shield himself and an unconscious Penny. In his left hand the creature held Avery in his clutches.

Cameron processed the scene and was the first to jump into action, drawing both pistols and opening fire on the alien. His bullets did no visible damage, but managed to draw his attention from his assault on Colton, who had blood running from his nose from the mental strain. Maya threw several shuriken, having the same effect as Cam's attack. The hulking beetle tossed Avery to the ground and shot his pulse cannon toward the trio who all retreated back behind cover.

Sam was initially shocked to see the devastation, but that quickly faded as the image of Avery's unconscious body being tossed like a ragdoll by the armored alien. Instead of fear and shock, she felt angry at the bastard for what he had done to her friends and teammates. She drew on all the energy she had absorbed before the mission, even pulling from the lighting system overhead. Just before the alien reached the trio's position she jumped forward to meet him.

The alien was shocked that puny human would directly confront him, but his onboard sensors quickly picked up on the massive amount of electrical energy building with the female in front of him. He attempted to kill her with his arm cannon, but was unable to as Sam unleashed a torrent of electricity unlike any the alien had ever seen. His armor and the onboard computer was overloaded with energy, causing the bonds of the armor to harden into a brittle state, until the pieces cracked and fell from his body, leaving the host body completely uncovered. Having been used as host for so long the body was emaciated, too weak to remain conscious due to the onslaught on electricity. As he collapsed to his body Cameron and Maya took up positions next to Sam, shocked at the power she had just exhibited.

The still conscious members of Sigma Squad gathered up their teammates and strapped into the ship. Maya, not nearly as emotionally compromised as Sam, noticed a potentially massive problem with their escape.

"Does anyone know how to fly this thing?" Given that their pilot was unresponsive, it seemed a justified question.

Cam helped Colton limp to his seat before answering. "I do. Avery taught me the basics after the training simulation."

"I am unsure whether I should be impressed or worried for our safety."

Cameron smirked, "Not a good time for jokes." Cameron strapped into the pilot's chair and powered up the ship. "But I do appreciate the effort."

Pushing the throttle up Cameron felt the ship being to take off; pushing it even further caused the ship fly toward the exit just as planned. "Maya, that bomb ready to blow? "

Maya nodded.

"Get on the horn and tell beta-squad that we're clear. When they're out, hit the switch."

Maya followed the order and depressed the switch she had been given to activate the anti-matter bomb just after Superboy radioed to signal that they were clear of the bomb's radius. She exhaled loudly, releasing the nervousness she didn't know she was experiencing. But just as she thought the ordeal was over, alarms started blaring from the main computer.

"Shit, shit, shit. This isn't good!" Cameron's voice had a distinctly worried tone as he turned on his radio.

" _Superboy this is Colt, I don't know if you're seeing this, but I'm reading a massive buildup of energy below us. The blast radius is way bigger than it's supposed to be. Gun it!"_

Just as Superboy was doing with the Justice League's Javelin, Cameron slammed the throttle as far as it could go, which caused Maya, Sam, and himself to be pushed back into their seats by the ensuing g-forces. Behind the two teams the Reach facility and the surround area flashed a brilliant white, the light barely encompassing the two ships. A mere second later the world seemed to vibrate for a half a second before the ships were clear.

Realizing that they were through the blast safely Cameron and Superboy turned their ships around to survey the damage. Directly in front of them, a 10 mile crater dominated the landscape, an area that once included that city of Mumbai. Over 12 million people lives simply winked out of existence in a three second explosion.

The still awake members of Sigma Squad stared out the front view port, barely registering Cameron's shock induced question. "What did we just do?"

* * *

**GNN global broadcast – 1:37 p.m.**

Iris Allen sat motionless in her chair behind the news desk. The news of the attack had just been confirmed by various sources. She would have to give the world the news that millions of lives had just been ended. Her producer was waving toward the appropriate camera and she barely collected herself as the camera began broadcasting her face around the world.

" _This is Iris Allen. For those of you just tuning in there has been a drastic turn of events around the world during the past few hours. Words…words can hardly explain what was occurred just moments ago, but the entire of city of Mumbai,_ _population_ _12,478,447, has been destroyed. A Reach fortification had been the process of being built several miles south of the city. Witnesses report several of our world's heroes were on the scene and had engaged the invading forces, but details remain negligible at this time._

_This attack was a part of a global invasion strategy from the previously benevolent aliens known as the Reach. Military powers around the world are coordinating to repel the enemy forces and Justice League members have been spotted taking part in the battle in various countries. We will continue to report the details as we hear them."_

* * *

**Pentagon War Room**

General Sam Lane took a phone call from one of his aids. What he heard caused him to immediately stand and slam the circular table he had been seated behind. "They just destroyed Mumbai!"

The news caused the most powerful people in the world to lapse into silence as they attempted to come to terms with the massive loss of life.

The President placed his glasses on the table. "General Lane, do we have any intel who is responsible?"

General Nathaniel Hardcastle took this moment to assert his own claim. "It was the Justice League! We knew they had the anti-matter tech, and that's what killed those people!"

The room turned into an uproar at the news. Hardcastle was head of military intelligence and he would the only most qualified to say what technology that the Justice League did or didn't have.

Lane shook his head. "We don't know that for sure. The aliens could possibly have had similar tech. And while I've never been the biggest fan of the League I cannot believe they would do something this heinous."

"Well what you believe doesn't mean jack crap General! These meta-humans freaks are using this invasion to grab power, showing us that any attempt to stop them would be futile!" Hardcastle had whipped the room into a frenzy at this point. "The hero menace must be stopped, and we are the only ones who can do it!"

The president had sat silently for a moment before turning to Hardcastle. "What do you propose?"

* * *


	21. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little wrap-up of the story and a kick off to the sequel.

**Pentagon War Room**

Amanda Waller could not believe the conversation she had just bore witness to. After the news broke about the destruction of Mumbai, the situation had naturally gotten heated. Hardcastle had managed to rile the military and intelligence leaders, outside of General Lane, into a frenzy of surreal proportions. Worse was that the president was going along with the plan! Both she and Lane smartly figured that speaking out would have been unwise, but it made Waller stomach turn to see the most powerful men in the room plotting to arrest and imprison the world's heroes. She knew that if unchecked, they would assuredly win. But maybe, between Lane and herself, they could find a way to throw a wrench in their plans. She sat silently, gaining as much information as she could.

* * *

**Aboard the Watchtower**

30 minutes after the bomb exploded, Sigma Squad was docking in Watchtower. The still standing members helped their injured teammates into the arms of the waiting medical personnel. Avery had regained consciousness and transferred a large amount of data from the ship's computer onto the Watchtower mainframe.

45 minutes later, the team was fully assembled in the medical wing. Everyone had been examined and the physicians told Cameron that each would make a full recovery. He knew he should he feel relieved at the news, but he only felt the crushing weight of defeat. Jim was dead, half his team was hospitalized, and over 12.5 million people had just been killed by the very bomb they had been tasked with placing. Despite the fact the League had managed to successfully halt the Reach invasion, he felt an overpowering guilt deep in his soul. For Maya, seeing Cameron is such a state was heartbreaking. She sat down next to him and grasped his hand, the two sitting in silence until Bart barreled into the room.

"We did it! We did i-."And just as suddenly as he arrived, he disappeared. But this time, there was no red trail to mark his passing. Instead, he faded out, becoming increasingly transparent until he fully vanished. Everyone who witnessed the event stared at the spot where the speedster had stood, even after Hawkeye walked into the room.

"Any of you guys seen Bart?" Seeing their expression Hawkeye guessed at what happened. "So he disappeared didn't he? Kind of figured he would, seeing as how the reason he came back never happened. Time travel's pretty f-ed isn't it?"

There was no response from the team, until Cameron lifted his head and looked to Hawkeye. "So, what now?"

"Well, right now, you and Maya need to come with me. That thing we talked about is happening, like right now. So, we need to go."

Cameron and Maya looked at each other, they knew that Hawkeye wanted them on his team, but neither felt they were the right people for the job after what happened not 2 hours ago.

"Oh, and if you're still guilty over the Mumbai thing, I believe Avery has something you need to hear."

All eyes snapped to Avery as she elaborated on Hawkeye's statement. "So the League came to the same conclusion?" Hawkeye nodded, motioning for Avery to continue. "I was monitoring the security feeds, like we planned. Right before we got hit I noticed something odd. Someone was running around the facility, but every camera he passed began glitching when he went by. He stopped in the hallway where you guys placed the bomb, but I couldn't tell what they did. It seems someone knew we were planting that bomb and decided to alter the range of the explosion."

Hawkeye clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention. "See, not your fault. Can we go now? Hood and Arsenal are getting all antsy in their pantsy about wanting to leave."

Penny stirred from her slumber while Avery was speaking. She was still playing catch up with what was going on. "So who's leaving?"

"We are." Cameron rose from his chair and made his way to Penny's bedside. "Maya and I need to go."

"You coming back?"

"I kind of doubt it, but you never know."

"Well, I'd hug you, but I seem to have broken my arm."

Cameron chuckled. "You certainly do have rotten luck."

"Yeah, I swear, every time we turn around we look back to find you lying on the ground. It's getting to be a real problem. I think you should seek professional help." Avery's snarkiness drew laughs from the room.

Colton hauled himself out of his bed and into a standing position. "Well, it certainly was an interesting ride, wasn't it?"

Cameron smiled, moving to shake Colton's outstretch hand. "Damn straight. Do me a favor, make sure everyone stays safe, would you?"

"Consider it done."

Cameron's gaze rested on the sleeping form of Tom. "Tell the kid I said good-bye."

"No problem."

Just as Cameron and Maya were about to reach the threshold Sam jumped and hugged Maya. "You two look after each other, alright?"

Maya looked to Cameron, unsure how to proceed. Cameron stifled a laugh at the momentary look of panic on Maya's face. After a few awkward seconds Maya responded.

"We will certainly endeavor to."

Sam broke off the hug. "Good."

Cameron and Maya turned to look over their teammates one last time, giving a wave to each one. Avery responded by smirking and flipping them both the bird. When the good-byes were finished, the duo followed Hawkeye to the launch bay.

* * *

**Watchtower Conference Room**

Nightwing stood before the assembled members of the League. A few were still on rescue detail, but the world's heroes had managed to defeat the invasion handedly. The young hero's head was hung low as Superman began the proceedings.

"While we have emerged victorious from this crisis we must now turn our attention to the pressing matter of Nightwing and his actions. His decision to engage in clandestine activities without including a single League member place many of your protégés in mortal peril on multiple occasions, resulted in the destruction of Mount Justice and very nearly resulted in the complete invasion of the planet. We cannot fault his intentions, but clearly his actions deserve to be examined and if appropriate, punished. What we must decide is if Nightwing should continue to remain a Justice League reserve member and also remain as the leader of our covert team. Before we begin, does the accused have any words for his own defense?"

Nightwing stepped forward to speak, but before he could being a technician burst into the room. "Turn on the news!"

Manhunter punched in a series of commands, and soon the screens in the room were showing a broadcast from GNN.

" _This is G. Gordon Godfrey. Here at GNN we have obtained proof of the Justice League's involvement in the massacre at Mumbai."_  The visual on the screen changed to that of the Reach facilities security footage, showing Maya, Sam, and Cameron placing the anti-matter bomb.  _"Seen here is a group of the Justice League's newest members placing the bomb that ended the lives of 12.5 million people. We have reached out to the government and they have confirmed the legitimacy of the footage. It appears the League is making a power grab, and this reporter feels justified in saying 'I told you so'."_

The reaction around the room was immediate.

"Hera, surely they can't believe we were responsible?"

"How the hell did they get that footage?"

Before any further speculation could take place, the broadcast changed again, this time to a live address from the President of the United States.  _"My fellow Americans, nay, my fellow_ _humans_ _, today an act of unspeakable barbarism took place that claimed the lives of over 12.5 million people in Mumbai. Rest assured, those responsible_ _will_ _be brought to justice. After speaking with my fellow world leaders and military advisors we have come to an agreement and a plan of action. Effective immediately via executive order #617, all superhero and vigilante activities are hereby outlawed. Those who turn themselves in will be taken peacefully and will not be harmed. Those who resist will be labeled terrorist and will be hunted with the full might of a globally coordinated military."_

* * *

**A planet deep in space**

A gray skinned alien sat on a throne as he surveyed several communication screens from his minions. His first priority was to receive the situation report from Earth.

"Godfrey, report." The deep voice of the man on the throne rumbled into the air.

" _My Lord, the humans have proved remarkable malleable to your will. I have corrupted several military leaders and the president of the United States. Through them, the Justice League shall be removed as an obstacle. I believe you will find the Earth far easier that previously imagined."_

The man on the throne sat in silence, his red eyes glowing ominously. "You have done well, Godfrey."

* * *

**\- Fin**

**Author's Note:**

> So what did you think? I know it wasn't the longest, but I didn't want to get to bog down in the information dumping that you see a lot in other OC tales. This was my first foray into SYOC storytelling and it truly improves as it goes along.


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